Upon request of Russian authorities (Interpol NCB Moscow), Russian citizen I.K. was declared internationally wanted because the Moscow court issued the remand measure of arrest in prison, on 18.02.2022, because the citizen is suspected of committing a criminal act.
Russian citizen I.K. appears to have been arrested on 27.08.2023, by the Shkodra Local Police Directory and, by decision of 14.112023, the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction in Shkodra decided for his extradition to the Russian Federation. This decision was upheld by the Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction on 20.02.2024 as well as by decision of the High Court of 24.09.2024.
On October 14, 2024, it results that the Minister of Justice approved the extradition order of citizen I.K., by setting as a deadline for the extradition October 30, 2024, 18:20, an order that AHC does not possess, but it is cited in the decision of the Constitutional Court that we will mention further below.
Also on October 30, at 17:15, the Constitutional Court appears to have issued a decision that suspends all procedures for the extradition of this citizen, reasoning this with the non-publication of the decision of the High Court that leaves in force the extradition and the fact that the Russian Federation is no longer part of the Council of Europe, based on his claims linked with the protection of convention rights (ECHR), as well as on the fact that the Strasbourg Court (ECtHR) in 2022, found violations of articles 3 and 5 of the ECHR for this citizen.
On its official website, it results that the General Directory of Prisons published through a statement, a process-verbal for the delivery of citizen I.K., which was compiled on October 30, 2024, at 16:45, according to which, the extradited was delivered to Russia through the Rinas Airport (Rinas Police Commissariat).[1] A copy of this process-verbal was given to the Russian office present while there is no official information from institutions involved in the extradition procedure what time the plane through which the extradition of this citizen was conducted took off. It is worth stressing that the delivery of this citizen by the General Directory of Prisons was done 1 hour and 35 minutes earlier than the time envisaged in the Order of the Minister of Justice, cited in the decision of the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court, taking into consideration the time extradition specified in the Order of the Minister of Justice
(18:20), made the decision for the temporary suspension of the extradition procedure of the citizen only one hour and five minutes before the extradition time, ordered by the Minister of Justice. The statement of the General Directory of Prisons, cited earlier, of October 30, 2024, says that the Ministry of Justice was notified about the suspension decision by email at 17:53.
The Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC) judges that the lack of coordination of the above actions and the delays in the pursued procedures were accompanied with harmful consequences. While the extradition procedures are suspended by a binding decision of the Constitutional Court, I.K. was extradited. Failure to execute the temporary decision of the Constitutional Court has violated not only the right to due legal process, but also the process of protection that the Albanian State should provide to foreign citizens being extradited, when they claim that in their countries of origin (requesting country) they will be subjected to torture and inhuman treatment. This runs counter to procedural guarantees of article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights that prohibits torture and inhuman treatment in absolute terms.
AHC does not possess official information as to what time the plane this citizen was transported with from the Albanian territory (Rinas Airport) took off. Based on information that AHC possesses on the case, which are not complete in terms of official documentation, we preliminarily consider that the Constitutional Court should have made every effort for this decision not only to be sent by email but also to be communicated through other official channels to the authorities that it was addressed to, namely the Ministry of Justice, Directory of Interpol at the State Police, General Prosecution Office, and the State Advocacy Office (even through official telephone). The entire state apparatus chain of these institutions should have been set into motion immediately so that the extradition of the Russian citizen would not have occurred, if he was in Albanian territory at the time when they were communicated the decision of the Constitutional Court.
AHC sees with concern also the fact that on October 18, 2024, the Albanian Helsinki Committee, based on information made available by the lawyer of the Russian citizen addressed via official letter the Department of Borders and Migration, underscoring that since the citizen had applied for asylum in the Republic of Albania, his extradition could not be allowed according to provisions of law no. 10193, dated 03.12.2009 “On jurisdictional relations with foreign authorities in criminal cases,” and sought information on the phase in which the review of the citizens’ petition for asylum was in. Also, regarding this letter, although it has been more than two weeks, AHC does not yet have a response. AHC suggests to all authorities mentioned in this letter that, with transparency and full accountability, they inform the public and investigate with priority the responsibilities regarding the violation of extradition procedures, pursuant to the binding decision of the Constitutional Court that suspends this process temporarily
