EIT:n suuri jaosto tarkensi näkemystään luovutustilanteisiin, joissa luovutettua uhkaa elinkautinen vankeus

EIT:n suuren jaoston ratkaisussa Sanchez-Sanchez v. UK asetettiin harkintamalli, jossa rikosken johdosta tapahtuvaa luovuttamista harkitseva jäsenvaltio arvioi onko luovutettava vaarassa joutua epäinhimillisen kohtelun uhriksi siltä osin, että hänellä ei olisi mahdollisuutta vapautua ehdonalaiseen vapauteen vaikka tuomittaisiin elinkautiseen vankeuteen.

Aiemmin EIT on todennut eurooppalaiset käytännöt tältä osin EIS 3 artiklan vastaisiksi. Nyt EIT toteaa seuraavasti:

The Court found that, while the principles set out in the Court’s previous case-law must be applied in domestic cases, an adapted approach was called for in an extradition case such as this, where the applicant has been neither convicted nor sentenced, and where the finding of a violation could prevent him from standing trial. It subsequently overruled the case-law in Trabelsi v. Belgium for this non-domestic case, underlining, however, that that in no way undermined its position that the extradition of a person by a Contracting State raised problems where there were serious grounds to believe that he would run a real risk of being subjected to treatment contrary to Article 3 of the Convention in the requesting State.

In extradition cases, the Court held that, first, it was up to the applicant to demonstrate that there was a real risk that, if convicted, he would be given a sentence of life imprisonment without  parole. Then, in keeping with the essence of the case-law in Vinter and Others v. the UK, the sending State must ascertain, prior to authorising extradition, that a mechanism of sentence review existed in the requesting State which would allow the domestic authorities to consider the prisoner’s progress towards rehabilitation or any other ground for release based on his or her behaviour or other circumstances.

Tapauksessa McCallum v. Italia valitus jätettiin suuressa jaostossa tutkimatta (inadmissible) sillä perusteella, että luovutusta pyytäneen USA:n viranomaiset olivat antaneet sitoumuksen siitä, ettei luovutettavaa tultaisi tuomitsemaan elinkautiseen vankeuteen ilman mahdollisuuta vapautua ehdonalaiseen vapauteen (parole).