Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Russia’s failure to comply with ECHR interim measures resulted in the applicant’s death

Yesterday, the former vice president of YUKOS, Vasily Aleksanyan, died of several health complications worsened by inhuman and degrading treatment during his detention in a Russian jail, reported Reuters.
Aleksanyan first worked as the head of the legal department of YUKOS. In March 2006 the shareholders of YUKOS appointed him as executive vice-president of the company. On 6 April 2006 Aleksanyan was arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of alleged participation in YUKOS criminal activities as the legal advisor to YUKOS executives. His detention had since been repeatedly extended.
Over the course of his detention, his health progressively deteriorated. His eyesight worsened to the extent that he became blind. In addition, in September 2006 Aleksanyan was found to be HIV-positive. As a result, from 2006–2008 he developed a number of opportunistic infections and lymph cancer. For more than a year he was denied treatment in a specialized hospital and received medical care in the medical facility of the detention center, which was insufficient considering seriousness of his illnesses. [See the full description of the facts related to the detention of Aleksanyan]
On 16 November 2006, following his arrest and subsequent detention, Aleksanyan lodged a complaint with the ECHR. He alleged, inter alia, that the Russian authorities violated Article 3 of the Convention due to the lack of medical treatment in the detention center. He also claimed that his state of health had been incompatible with his detention. In addition, Aleksanyan requested the Court to apply urgent interim measures under Rule 39 of the Rules of the Court.
His request for application of the interim measures was sustained by the Court. Thus, the ECHR ordered the Russian Government to implement two interim measures, on 27 November 2007 and 21 December 2007 respectfully. According to the first interim measure, the Russian Government was ordered to transfer Aleksanyan immediately to a specialized hospital. However, it took the Russian authorities more than two months to implement this measure. In the Court’s view, such delay put the health and life of Aleksanyan in danger.
The Russian Government also refused to comply with the second interim measure of the Court, namely to form a mixed medical commission to be composed on the parity basis, to diagnose the health problems of Aleksanyan and suggest treatment. However, the Russian Government replied to the Court that the medical facility of the detention centre could provide proper medical treatment to Aleksanyan, and that his examination by a mixed medical commission was against the Russian law.

On 22 December 2008 the ECHR delivered the judgment in Aleksanyan case and ordered the Russian Government, inter alia, to discontinue his detention on remand, in view of the gravity of his illnesses. He was released only in January 2009 after a bond of 50 million rubles was paid (approximately 1,700,000 USD).

As the Moscow Times reports, human rights activists believe that Aleksanyan could have lived longer if the Russian authorities had not kept him in custody for nearly three years.

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