In a judgment rendered on 29 August 2024 in Case SS-3356/2023, Hillerød District Court (Retten i Hillerød) in Denmark decided that a national cannot be extradited to India because of the real risk of a fundamental rights breach.
The national court ruled that the person cannot be extradited to a third state in a second extradition attempt because there is a real risk the person would be subject to treatment that would violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
This is notwithstanding additional diplomatic assurances that India have provided to Denmark as compared to the first extradition request.
Background
The case is a long-running saga dating back to the mid-1990s, in which a national of Denmark is suspected of committing terrorist offences in India by Indian authorities.
Public authorities in India in 2002 requested the extradition of a person in Denmark, a Danish national. The Ministry of Justice of Denmark decided in 2010 that the person should be extradited for prosecution in India, but this was challenged in the national courts, with the Eastern High Court (Østre Landsret) of Denmark in 2011 ruling that the person should not be extradited to India.
This 2011 judgment establioshed that estraditing the person to India for criminal prosecution would violate the Danish Extradition Act, which aligns with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Moreover, this 2011 judgment stated that the diplomatic assurances provided by the India were insufficient to guarantee A’s safe extradition.
Undeterred, India renewed its request for the extradition of the person to face criminal prosecution in India in 2016. This time, Indiaprovided additional diplomatic assurances to Denmark that meant the person, when extradited, would be placed in a special detention centre during the criminal proceedings, and permitted Danish authorities to accompany the person to India in an observation manner.
Order
In 2024, this renewed attempt by India to get the person extradited from Denmark is back before the courts.
By order on 29 August 2024, the Hillerød District Court decided that the person should not be extradited for criminal prosecution in India on the basis of the new extradition request by India.
The Hillerød District Court thereby emphasized, inter alia,, that extradition of the person to India, despite the additional diplomatic guarantees, would be still be contrary to the Danish Extradition Act, and furthermore, there is a real risk that the person, if extradited to India, would be subject to treatment that would be a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
More on Case SS-3356/2023, in which an order was delivered by the Hillerød District Court (Retten i Hillerød), is available here.