balkaninsight.com
<http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-risks-flouting-un-torture-convention-by-extraditing-activist-12-25-2017-2>
Serbia Risks Flouting UN Torture Convention By Extraditing Activist :: Balkan
Insight
Nikola Kovacevic
6-8 minutes
_____
If Serbia acts on its decision to extradite a Kurdish rights activist to
Turkey, it will be showing its absolute disregard for the UN Convention against
Torture that it has signed.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan walks with his Serbian counterpart
Aleksandar Vucic during his recent visit to Serbia. Photo: Beta
A Kurdish political activist, Cevdet Ayaz, who is currently unlawfully and
arbitrarily deprived of liberty in the Detention Centre for Foreigners in
Serbia, is facing imminent risk of extradition to Turkey.
This is despite the UN Committee Against Torture CAT’s interim measure, which
says Serbia should refrain from forcible removal before the end of procedures
before this body. The CAT rendered this decision on 11 December 2017.
On December 13, Serbia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations informed the
Foreign, Interior and Justice ministries of the decision of the Committee.
However, it appears that Serbian authorities still believe there are no legal
obstacles to executing the Minister of Justice’s decision on extradition,
rendered on December 15. It looks like a matter of time before Serbia deports
Ayaz.
The CAT reached its decision after concluding that Ayaz might be subjected to
acts contrary to the absolute prohibition of torture if he was returned to
Turkey.
A Kurdish political activist and a victim of torture, he left his country after
being sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment for acting against the
constitutional order of Turkey.
That conviction was rendered on the basis of statements extorted from him
without the presence of a lawyer and with the use of electric shocks,
high-pressure cold water sprays and psycho-physical abuse.
As a successor to the former Yugoslavia, Serbia was one of the first countries
in the world to ratify the UN Convention against torture and other Cruel,
Inhumane and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, which came into force in 1987.
It recognised the mandate of the CAT, established as a mechanism that should
control whether or not state signatories are acting in line with the
obligations arising from this document.
One of the obligations set out in Article 3 of the UN Convention stipulates:
“No State Party shall expel, return (refoul] or extradite a person to another
State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in
danger of being subjected to torture.
For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent
authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including,
where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern
of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.”
Following this provision, it is important to mention that the UN CAT issued the
interim measure because it found that Serbian authorities might have failed to
“take into account all relevant considerations including ... the existence in
the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass
violations of human rights”.
It is well known that Turkish security forces systematically persecute the
government’s political opponents, Kurdish minority representatives, as was the
case with Ayaz.
Even journalist, lawyers, judges, prosecutors, academics and professors are
routinely labelled “enemies of the state”, “terrorists”, etc.
Turkey has issued Germany with more than 4,500 request for extradition but this
country declined to send those people back precisely because of the risks Ayaz
faces.
Thousands of requests have been issued to other states all around the world,
but it appears that Serbia is one of the few states, and the only one in
Europe, that looks eager to comply with Turkey’s request.
Turkey has been condemned for its behaviour by the UN Special Rapporteur for
Torture, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and
expression, the Council Of Europe, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch
and other human rights bodies.
The list of Turkey’s human right violations includes arbitrary killings,
enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, holding people in
detention incommunicado, suppression of freedom of assembly, freedom of
expression, and more.
The manner in which the Serbian authorities have conducted extradition
procedure was shallow and lacked rigorous scrutiny. None of the
above-mentioned facts, which are widely known, that the Belgrade Centre for
Human Rights submitted to asylum and extradition authorities were taken into
consideration.
It is difficult to escape an impression that the Serbian authorities do not
possess sufficient knowledge of the absolute norms of International Customary
Law, which include the principle of non-refoulement, as stated above in Article
3 of the UN Convention against Torture.
And, on the contrary, if they are aware of these rules, they are on the verge
of deliberately violating them, which raises even more concerns.
The bottom line is that Ayaz is still in Serbia and all the relevant Serbian
authorities are aware of the CAT’s decision. On Tuesday, Jens Modvig, the chair
of the UN Committee against Torture, stated the following:
<https://twitter.com/Modvig/status/945341639769411584>
“Apparently, Serbia is in the process of extraditing mr Ayaz to Turkey in spite
of CATs issuance of interim measures. Serbia, please be aware of your UNCAT
obligations“
Accordingly, there is still a chance for Serbia to prove that it is willing to
respect the provisions of UN Convention against Torture.
The first step would be to provide an answer to the CAT within two months as is
stipulated in the decision. Any other outcome would put Serbia among the
countries that are deliberately violating the most valuable achievements of
mankind such as the norms of International Customary Law, one of which is an
absolute prohibition of torture and ill-treatment.
Moreover, execution of the decision on extradition risks putting an end to a
life of an ordinary, political activist who has raised his voice for the rights
of his Kurdish people, without ever resorting to violence of any kind.
Nikola Kovacevic is Legal Officer at the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, BCHR.
The opinions expressed in the Comment section are those of the authors only and
do not necessarily reflect the views of BIRN.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"serbia" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/serbia.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
