Sanchez-Sanchez v. United Kingdom at the European Court of Human Rights

Roos Willemijn Craanen 

International Justice and Human Rights Researcher

Global Human Rights Defence 

The ‘Sanchez-Sanchez v. United Kingdom’ is the latest case which challenges the ability of European States to extradite criminals to the United States of America within the context of the right to be free from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment (Article 3) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Chamber has just announced that it has relinquished its jurisdiction to the Grand Chamber. The case concerns Ismail Sanchez-Sanchez, who is presumably guilty of drug trafficking and dealing. He  was arrested by the United Kingdom in 2018. Under US law, Sanchez-Sanchez could face a conviction to serve a life-sentence without the ability to be released on parole. It is the absence of his potential release on parole which brings his case within the ambit of Article 3 of the ECHR. Namely, as specified by Sanchez-Sanchez, this would expose him to a lifetime of overcrowding, poor living conditions, and various forms of ill-treatment and torture in the US prison system. Sanchez-Sanchez’s line of reasoning may prove successful because the ECtHR has previously ruled that the extradition of an applicant towards the US without parole, could amount to a violation of Article 3 of the ECHR. 

Further reading and source: 

Registrar of the Court. (21 October 2021). Press Release ECHR 316 (2021) Grand Chamber to Examine Second Case Concerning Extradition to the United States, which Could Lead to Life Sentence. European Court of Human Rights. http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng-press?i=003-7159781-9711498.