In the case of U v. France the Court held that there would be no violation of the prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment if the decision to remove the applicant to the Russian Federation were enforced.

The case concerned the procedure to remove the applicant, a Russian national of Chechen origin, to Russia. The applicant’s refugee status had been revoked on account of the serious threat his presence in France posed to State security. The Court found, firstly, that the French authorities had, at each stage of the proceedings to enforce the removal measure to Russia, conducted a thorough and in-depth examination of the applicant’s situation. Secondly, carrying out its own up-to-date assessment of the applicant’s individual situation, the Court considered that he had not demonstrated before it that there were serious, proven grounds to believe that, if he were returned to Russia, he would run a real and present risk of being subjected to treatment in breach of Article 3 of the Convention. It concluded that enforcement of the removal measure in respect of the applicant would not, in the circumstances of the present case, violate Article 3 of the Convention.

• Press release