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''Soering v United Kingdom'' 161 Eur. Ct. H.R. (ser. A) (1989) is a landmark judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) which established that extradition of a young German national to the United States to face charges of capital murder violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) guaranteeing the right against inhuman and degrading treatment. == Facts == The applicant, Jens Soering, is a German national, born in 1966, who was brought by his parents to the United States at age eleven. In 1984, he was an 18-year-old honor student at the University of Virginia, where he became good friends with Elizabeth Haysom, a Canadian national two years his elder. Haysom's parents, William Reginald Haysom and Nancy Astor Haysom, lived 65 miles from the university, in Boonsboro (a suburb of Lynchburg), and were against their daughter's relationship with Soering. According to the account provided later to local police, Soering and Elizabeth Haysom decided to kill Haysom's parents; and, to divert suspicion, they rented a car in Charlottesville and drove to Washington D.C. On 30 March 1985, Soering drove to the Haysom residence and dined with the unsuspecting couple. During or after dinner, he picked a quarrel and viciously attacked them with a knife. Both were found with their throats slit and with stab and slash wounds to the neck and body. In October 1985, Soering and Elizabeth Haysom fled to Europe; and, on 30 April 1986, they were arrested in England, United Kingdom on charges of cheque fraud. Six weeks later, a grand jury of the Circuit Court of Bedford County, Virginia, indicted Soering with the capital murder of the Haysoms, as well as their separate non-capital murders. On 11 August 1986, the United States requested extradition for the pair, based on the 1972 extradition treaty. A warrant was issued under section 8 of the Extradition Act 1870 for the arrest of Soering, and he was committed to await the Home Secretary's order to extradite him to the United States. Soering filed a petition for habeas corpus with the Divisional Court and requested permission for judicial review of the decision to commit him, arguing that the Extradition Act 1870 did not authorise extradition for a capital charge. He also cited article IV of the US-UK extradition treaty, which provides that an extradition request for an offence carrying the death penalty can be refused if the requesting country has not given "assurances () that the death penalty will not be carried out." An assurance had been provided by the Commonwealth Attorney of Bedford County; but Soering contended it was worthless. On 11 December 1987, Lord Justice Lloyd in the Divisional Court admitted that the assurance "leaves something to be desired" but refused the request for judicial review, stating that Soering's request was premature, as the Home Secretary had not yet accepted the assurance. Soering appealed to the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords, which rejected his claim on 30 June 1988. He, then, petitioned the Home Secretary without success, the latter authorising extradition on 3 August 1988. Anticipating this outcome, Soering had filed a claim with the European Commission of Human Rights (ECHR) on 9 July 1988, asserting that he would face inhuman and degrading treatment contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights ("the Convention") were he to be extradited to the USA, it being likely that the death penalty would be applied. Soering's arguments that the use by a non-Convention State of the death penalty would engage the right to life were novel, in that Article 2(1) of the Convention expressly permits the use of the death penalty, and Article 3 had never been interpreted to bring the death penalty, per se, within the prohibition of "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". The applicant, therefore, sought to make it clear that this was not the simple application of a punishment prescribed by law, but rather his exposure to the death row phenomenon, where he would be kept in detention for an unknown period, awaiting execution. The ECHR requested that no extradition take place pending the deliverance of its judgment. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Soering v United Kingdom」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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