ECtHR, XX v. Belgium, No. 140/10, 2014
- 2014
- Belgium
Topics
Islamic extremism Membership in a terrorist organisationLegal bases
European Convention on Human RightsCourts
European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)Laws
Torture, degrading and inhuman and treatment Right of individual petitionFacts
On 30 September 2003, the applicant, XX, was sentenced by the Brussels’ Regional Court to ten years’ imprisonment for having, among other offences, attempted to blow up a Belgian military base and having instigated a criminal conspiracy. On 8 April 2008 the US authorities transmitted to the Belgian authorities a request for Mr XX’s extradition. The indictment included four charges against Mr XX for offences relating to Al-Qaeda-inspired acts of terrorism, specifying that for the first two charges he was liable to a sentence of life imprisonment and for the other two charges to a fifteen-year term. On 10 June 2010 the Brussels Court of Appeal issued a favourable opinion on Mr XX’s extradition, specifying a number of conditions, including that the life sentence should be accompanied by the possibility of commutation of sentence. By a diplomatic note of 10 August 2010 the US authorities repeated their guarantees in this respect. On 23 November 2011 the Belgian Minister for Justice, drawing on the assurances provided by the US authorities, adopted a ministerial decree granting the applicant’s extradition to the US Government. Meanwhile, on 6 December 2011 Mr XX lodged a request with the European Court of Human Rights for the adoption of an interim measure pursuant to Rule 39 of the Rules of Court with a view to suspending his extradition. On the same day the Court acceded to his request and indicated to the Belgian Government that it should not extradite Mr XX to the United States. The Belgian Government submitted several requests for the lifting of this measure, which was nonetheless maintained for the duration of the proceedings before the Court. On 3 October 2013 Mr XX was extradited to the United States, where he was immediately detained.
Legal grounds
Article 3 of the ECHR, Article 34 of the ECHR
Findings
Concerning Article 3, the Court held that the US authorities had at no point provided any concrete assurance that Mr XX would be spared an irreducible life sentence. While US legislation provided various possibilities for reducing life sentences, it did not lay down any procedure amounting to a mechanism for reviewing such sentences for the purposes of Article 3. Therefore, the life imprisonment to which Mr XX might be sentenced could not be described as reducible, which meant that his extradition to the United States had amounted to a violation of Article 3. Article 34 The Court noted that by acting in breach of the interim measure indicated by the Court pursuant to Rule 39, the respondent State had deliberately and irreversibly lowered the level of protection of the rights set out in Article 3 of the Convention. The Court also considered that the actions of the Belgian Government had made it more difficult for Mr XX, who was being held in solitary confinement with limited contact with the outside world, to exercise his right of petition. Consequently, Belgium had failed to honour the obligations incumbent on it under Article 34.