‘Historic’ court ruling blocks extraditions from Europe to China
All extraditions to China from Europe could be blocked after a recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)in a judgment campaigners have described as a historic decision with global ramifications.
Judges at a court in Strasbourg, France, ruled unanimously on October 6 that Hung Tao Liu, a Taiwanese national accused of telecommunications fraud, should not be extradited from Poland to China because he could face ill treatment or torture and not having access to a fair trial.
Judges also ruled that Liu’s five-year detention in Poland while he appealed the extradition request was unlawful. The judgment is due to take effect in January.
Basically, Liu is neither a political activist nor a critic of China, nor from a religious or ethnic minority, explained his Polish lawyer Marcin Gorski, a jurist at the University of Lodz.
“So the bottom line of the case is that basically regardless of your personal status – whether you’re a political activist involved in some sort of opposition activity in China or not – you should not be extradited to China. China, basically because anyone being [sent] he is likely to be subjected to mistreatment,” Gorski told VOA.
Hung Tao Liu fled Spain to Poland in 2016 after Spanish authorities arrested and extradited more than 200 suspects of Taiwanese origin to mainland China for telecommunications fraud. Liu would have been the leader of the group.
Human rights groups have accused Spain of ignoring warnings of mistreatment and torture in China’s justice system. “The Spanish government was aware of the situation in China,” Jing-Jie Chen, of the Madrid-based human rights group Safeguard Defenders, told VOA.
“What the Chinese government has been trying to say is we’re going to have this diplomatic assurance, we’re going to guarantee fair trials, we’re going to guarantee there’s no capital punishment or life imprisonment, so it’s OK for you to send these people here.
“This [ECHR] the judgment also makes it clear that it doesn’t really matter for this genre[s] diplomatic assurances,” Chen said.
Liu was detained in Poland in 2017 after Interpol issued a “red notice” based on a request from authorities in Beijing. Polish judges approved his extradition to China, a decision upheld by Poland’s Supreme Court in 2018. Liu then appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, whose decisions take precedence over domestic courts.
Poland can appeal the ECHR verdict, but legal experts say it is unlikely to be overturned as the decision was unanimous.
Forty-six countries are signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights, overseen by the ECHR in Strasbourg. Nations that are not signatories to the convention will also take note of the recent ruling, attorney Gorski said.
“The judgment is likely to have an impact on the proceedings in these types of cases that are taking place around the world. And we actually have very good feedback from this judgment also from the United States, Canada, the United States. ‘Australia and New Zealand,” he told VOA.
The decision could also have an impact on relations between Europe and China.
“For example, the impact of this decision on the ongoing process of negotiating and ratifying trade agreements with China now,” Gorski said.
China consistently rejects allegations that it violates human rights and says the right to a fair trial is enshrined in law. Human rights activists say China does not grant international control over its justice system and that torture, forced confessions and executions are common.