Přehled
Rozhodnutí
FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 11841/21
Tom WEICKERT
against Slovenia
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 24 January 2023 as a Committee composed of:
Péter Paczolay, President,
Alena Poláčková,
Gilberto Felici, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 29 January 2021,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
1. The applicant, Mr Tom Weickert, is a German national, who was born in 1975 and lives in Ellerbek, Germany. He was represented before the Court by Ms D. Bobnar, a lawyer practising in Novo mesto.
2. The Slovenian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms J. Morela, Senior State Attorney.
3. The applicant complained under Article 3 of the Convention about the risk of extradition to the United States of America (“US”) where he would potentially face a de facto life imprisonment.
4. By a partial decision of 17 May 2021, the Court decided to give notice to the Government of the applicant’s complaint detailed above.
5. The German Government were informed of their right to intervene in the proceedings (Article 36 § 1 of the Convention and Rule 44 of the Rules of Court) but decided not to make use of that right.
THE LAW
6. The Government objected, firstly, that the applicant was no longer at risk of extradition and thus could not claim to be a victim of the alleged violation and, secondly, that the application was inadmissible because the domestic proceedings had not been completed.
7. The Court notes that on 18 August 2020 the Ministry of Justice (“the Ministry”) approved that the applicant’s extradition to the US be carried out. However, the applicant challenged this decision before the Administrative Court which quashed the Ministry’s decision and ordered that the case be re-examined. On 31 August 2022 the Supreme Court quashed the Administrative Court’s judgment and remitted the case to the Administrative Court for re-examination. In the meantime, on 3 February 2022, the Novo mesto District Court decided that the applicant’s detention should be terminated because it was approaching the statutory maximum of thirty months. On 4 February 2022 the applicant was released from detention. The Government submitted that consequently the applicant would not be extradited from Slovenia to the US and suggested that he had anyhow left the country.
8. The Court observes that the proceedings concerning the Ministry’s approval of the applicant’s extradition indeed seem to be pending. However,
the applicant has been released from detention in Slovenia and, as submitted by the Government and not contested by the applicant, he is no longer at risk of extradition from Slovenia to the US in the context of the proceedings complained of.
9. In the light of the above, the Court considers that the matter has been resolved within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (b) of the Convention and that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols does not require it to continue the examination of the application under Article 37 § 1 in fine (see, mutatis mutandis, Bilasi-Ashri v. Austria (dec.), no. 3314/02, ECHR 2002‑X, and Samiev v. Georgia (dec.), no. 9934/10, 16 November 2010).
10. Accordingly, the case should be struck out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
Done in English and notified in writing on 16 February 2023.
Liv Tigerstedt Péter Paczolay
Deputy Registrar President