European Court of Human Rights Rules on Cyber Crime Suspect’s Extradition to the US (July 24, 2014) [1]
On July 24, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) ruled [3] in Čalovskis v. Latvia that a suspect indicted for cybercrime-related offenses would not be exposed to a real risk of ill-treatment if he was extradited to the U.S. The Court held the applicant’s argument that “if extradited to the United States he would be subjected to torture and a disproportionate prison sentence” did not reach the threshold required to show a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights [4] (the Convention). According to the press release [5], the Court also found “a violation of Article 3 of the Convention on account of Mr Čalovskis being placed in a metal cage during a court hearing; a violation of Article 5 § 4 (right to have lawfulness of detention decided speedily by a court) as concerned the lack of judicial review of Mr Čalovskis’ pre-extradition detention; and . . . by four votes to three, that there had been a violation of Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) as concerned the authorisation of Mr Čalovskis’ pre-extradition detention.”