Forcible Return and Torture

This Urgent Action is about the extradition from Spain of the ethnic Chechen Murad Gasayev to the Russian Federation. There is grave risk of torture, other ill treatment and an unfair trial.

See the full information from Amnesty HERE.

Mr Gasayev has been denied asylum in Spain on the basis of information neither he, nor his lawyers, have ever seen. He is wanted by the Russian Federation in relation to an armed attack in the Republic of Ingushetia in 2004. He says that he has been detained and tortured in relation to this incident.

Amnesty writes:

In recent years the CPT [Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture] has taken the extraordinary step of publishing its damning reports on the problem of torture in Chechnya. ... The CPT ... is only authorized to make public statements when a country "fails to co-operate or refuses to improve the situation in the light of the Committee's recommendations." The fact the CPT has felt obliged to resort to a public statement three times ... indicates that the CPT considers Russia is failing to effectively tackle torture in Chechnya.

And:

The Russian human rights organisation Memorial has researched and documented the cases of several people convicted in connection with the June 2004 attack. Memorial has found evidence that during ... those suspected of involvement in the attack were tortured, and were denied a fair trial. Amnesty International has interviewed several people whose statements support these findings.

The below is an email I sent to Spain's minister for Justice, Mr Mariano Fernández Bermejo, via ministro at mju.es. I sent similar emails to the Vice President, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega via the contact form here (the email address I got from Amnesty bounced) and to Spain's ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Mr Carlos Sánchez de Boado y de la Válgoma, on emb.canberra at maec.es.

To:
Mariano Fernández Bermejo
Ministerio de Justicia
San Bernardo, 45
28015 Madrid, Spain

From:

Ole Koksvik
Welhavensv 4
3613 Kongsberg

Regarding the Extradition of Mr Murad Gasayev

Dear Sir,

My name is Ole Koksvik. I am a Norwegian citizen, a permanent resident of Australia, a PhD student at the Australian National University and a visiting researcher at the University of Oslo. Thank you for reading this letter and for considering my concerns.

It has come to my attention that mr Murad Gasayev, an ethnic Chechen and Russian national, is in immediate danger of extradition to the Russian Federation.

I urge you in the strongest possible terms not to extradite Mr Gasayev. He is at clear risk of an unfair trial, torture and other ill-treatment, the "diplomatic assurances" from the Russian Federation notwithstanding.

The Russian human rights organisation Memorial has found evidence that during the investigations by the investigation unit of the Directorate of the General Procuracy in the Southern Federal District, those suspected of involvement in the crime for which Mr Gasayev is wanted were tortured, and were denied a fair trial. Amnesty International has interviewed several people whose statements support these findings. The evidence is clear. Spain must not extradite Mr Gasayev.

I furthermore urge that you do not send Mr Gasayev to a third country, where he might also be at risk of extradition.

The forcible return of Gasayev to the Russian Federation would be a breach of Spain's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Sincerely yours

Ole Koksvik