SJC: Extradition of prisoners from Georgia to Russia must be stopped immediately
Following the killing of Dmitry Pushkaryov, who Georgia extradited to Russia, the Georgian Social Justice Center (SJC) said that Georgia should immediately halt the extradition of prisoners to Russia.
The organisation said resuming the practice of extraditing prisoners to Russia was incompatible with human rights.
After Georgia extradited Dmitry Pushkaryov, he was killed in an attack on Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) officers. According to Russian authorities, Pushkaryov killed one officer and wounded three others while attempting to escape.
“The mere fact that Dmitry Pushkaryov was killed does not directly establish that Georgia violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights by extraditing him. However, his death raises even more serious questions about how thoroughly the Georgian authorities assessed the risks he faced in Russia, what guarantees they obtained from Russia, whether an independent mechanism existed to monitor compliance with those guarantees, and whether the Georgian side subsequently monitored the person’s situation,” the SJC said.
According to the organisation, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) indicates that information that emerges after a person’s transfer can also matter when assessing how well-founded the state’s initial risk assessment was.
The SJC believes that continuing extraditions to Russia — particularly without proper public justification, a rigorous individual risk assessment and effective independent monitoring mechanisms — could put Georgia in breach of its international human rights obligations.
The organisation calls on the Georgian government, the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor General’s Office to immediately suspend extraditions to Russia. The SJC believes the practice should remain suspended until the situation in Russia changes significantly and the international community reaches a consensus on the issue.
The Centre also calls on the Prosecutor General’s Office to publish statistical data on extradition requests received from Russia since 16 March 2022, the decisions made on those requests and the extraditions carried out.
The organisation is also demanding that the Ministry of Justice explain the legal grounds for changing the moratorium recorded before the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Sumbaev v. Georgia.
The ECtHR found Georgia’s 2021 extradition of Aslan Sumbaev, who faced serious criminal charges in Russia, lawful only after Russia provided official diplomatic assurances that it would prevent torture and ensure proper detention conditions.
“Please also specify what individual guarantees and subsequent monitoring mechanisms were applied in relation to the extraditions that have already taken place,” the Social Justice Center wrote.
