Lawyers with the Committee for the Prevention of Torture received the second letter from the European Court of Human Rights, in which the Court additionally asks the Russian Federation to answer several questions with regard to the case of Murad Amriev.   

In particular, the European Court posed the following questions to the Russian authorities:
 
– whether Russian authorities submitted official request for Amriev’s extradition out of the Republic of Belarus, and if yes, then on what grounds (whether the criminal case was initiated against Amruev in Russia?) 

– if Amriev is subjected to extradition or delivered to Russia in any other way, well he be apprehended and if yes, in which establishments he would be kept and on what grounds?       

– what measures may be taken by the authorities in order to guarantee to Amriev the presence of the defence lawyers selected by him during the period of his remaining under the control of the authorities, as well as the passing of the medical examination?  

– taking into account the previous complaints of Amriev about tortures and abduction in 2013, what measures are planned by the authorities in order to prevent the repeated risk of torture and abduction?    

The government of Russia should give answers to the European Court by 5 July and provide all the necessary documents as a proof of its stance.
  
“At the present time we are closely monitoring the process and passing the Court all the information we get on Amriev’s whereabouts and condition. Today we sent to the Court our comments with regard to the questions posed to the Government of Russia, as well as the information that thus night Amriev was taken from the District Police Department of the Interior of Dobrush city and turned over to border patrol and FSB officers. We are hoping for fast ruling of the Court, and in our repeated application we again asked the court to apply Rule 39 of the Procedure with regard to the complaint. Thus entails the injunctive remedies applied by the Court, which usually involves prohibiting the state from taking the actions which could lead to inflicting damage to life and health of the applicant, or in pointing the state at the necessity of taking certain actions in order to prevent such damage. So far the Court pointed out that Rule 39 will not be used till the moment of receiving the information from the Russian official authorities. But, due to the development of the situation not in the interests of the applicant, in our opinion, the Court may change its stance and apply Rule 39 in the nearest future”, – lawyer of the international-legal department of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture Ekaterina Vanslova comments.    

As we have previously reported, the European Court on Human Rights already gave the case of Murad Amriev a priority in the framework of Article 41 of the European Court.  It will mean that the Court will pay a special attention to the situation developed around Amriev.