It is not the courts’ role to draft diplomatic assurances for Russian authorities, for to do so deprives judges of objective scrutiny, argues Edward Grange
Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said: ‘The degree of civilisation in a society is revealed by entering its prisons.’ Today,
136 years after his death, Russian civilisation would not be judged well by these standards. In Dzgoev v Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation [2017] EWHC 735 (Admin), the Divisional Court was asked to consider a single ground of appeal, but one that was vitally important to a number of requested persons facing extradition to Russia. Were prison conditions in Russia so appalling that they breach article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and if so, could the assurances that had been provided by the Ru...
