THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 63856/10
by Vadim POKLONOV
against Georgia
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 6 September 2011 as a Committee composed of:
Alvina Gyulumyan, President,
Luis López Guerra,
Nona Tsotsoria, judges,
and Marialena Tsirli, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 3 November 2010,
Having regard to the interim measure indicated to the respondent Government under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court,
Having regard to the applicant’s letter of 9 March 2011,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicant, Mr Vadim Poklonov, is a Kazakhstani national who was born in 1972 and lives in Moscow, Russia. He was represented before the Court by Ms Lia Mukhashavria, a lawyer practising in Tbilisi.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On 12 October 2010 the applicant, having arrived from Moscow for a business trip, was arrested in Tbilisi. The basis for his arrest was an alert issued by Interpol on account of the criminal proceedings initiated against him for various economic crimes in Kazakhstan. On 14 October 2010 the Tbilisi City Court ordered the applicant’s detention pending extradition.
By an order of 22 October 2010, the Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia authorised the applicant’s extradition to Kazakhstan. The applicant contested that order in court, but his action was dismissed as manifestly ill‑founded by the Tbilisi City Court’s ruling of 30 October 2010.
On 3 November 2010 the applicant appealed against the ruling of 30 October 2010 to the Supreme Court of Georgia.
Concurrently, he also requested the Court, on 3 November 2010, to order to the Georgian Government, under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, that his extradition to Kazakhstan be suspended. The President of the Section granted that request on the same day; the interim measure was indicated for the duration of the proceedings before the Court.
By a letter of 9 March 2011, the applicant informed the Court that he did not wish to maintain his application as the impugned extradition proceedings had been discontinued by the Supreme Court of Georgia on 18 February 2011. The Supreme Court’s final decision, quashing the Tbilisi City Court’s ruling of 30 October 2010 and annulling the extradition order of 22 October 2010, was based on the fact, which the Georgian authorities had learnt from their Kazakh counterparts on 3 February 2011, that the criminal charges against the applicant had been dropped and the criminal case closed by the General Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan.
THE LAW
In the light of the foregoing and having due regard to the Supreme Court’s decision of 18 February 2011 which irrevocably discontinued the disputed extradition proceedings (cf. Samiev v. Georgia (dec.), no. 9934/10, 16 November 2010), the Court considers that the matter giving rise to the present application has been resolved within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (b) of the Convention. Moreover, in light of the same considerations, the Court is satisfied that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto does not require it to continue the examination of the application (Article 37 § 1 in fine).
In view of the above, it is appropriate to discontinue the application of Rule 39 of the Rules of Court and to strike the case out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
Marialena TsirliAlvina Gyulumyan
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy