The delegation of the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) pays a fact-finding visit to Georgia to studies the cases of 13 Chechens, who were arrested by Georgian border guards in August 2002.
After a hearing on 16 September 2003, the declared admissible the application lodged by 13 Chechens.
Five of them were immediately extradited to Russia. The applicants submit that their extradition to the Russian Federation, where capital punishment has not been abolished, exposes them to a real risk of death or torture.
The fact-finding mission aims at taking evidence from the applicants who had been extradited to Russia and from those who are in custody in Georgia pending a decision on the extradition request made by the Russian Federation, and from witnesses.
The missions were scheduled for the last week of October 2003, however were adjourned due to the November 2 parliamentary elections in Georgia.
The Russian delegation led by official representative of the Russian Federation in the Strasbourg Court Pavel Laptev also arrived in Tbilisi to participate in the fact-finding mission. A fact-finding visit is also scheduled to the Russian Federation as well.
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