Join the Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) on Wednesday, January 24, from 6:45 a.m. - 7:45 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time) / 12:45 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. (Central European Standard Time).This Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe side event aims to shed light on legal loopholes and States' practices concerning international cooperation in judicial matters that may lead to grave human rights violations such as torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. 

Although the European Convention on Human Rights applies to all Member States, lower standards are required in cooperation with third States in terms of substantive and procedural assessments of the respect of human rights. This creates gaps in judicial mechanisms, such as extradition proceedings, especially concerning new forms of torture and ill-treatments developed by States to circumvent the absolute prohibition of torture. 

Center for Constitutional Rights Staff Attorney CJ Sandley will address these issues using the cases of Trabelsi v. Belgium, Application no. 140/10, where Trabelsi was unduly imprisoned in solitary confinement for 10 years after being acquitted in July 2023; and Lapshin v. Azerbaïdjan, Application no. 13527/18, in which a journalist was extradited to Baku, tortured, and threatened with death for visiting Nagorno-Karabakh.