Passive Extradition: the Corte Di Cassazione Rules on the Need to Verify whether, Especially in Time of War, Detention Conditions and Punishments in the Requesting State May Violate Fundamental Human Rights, also Taking into Consideration the Health Status of the Individual

The contribution analyzes judgment No. 10656/2022 of the Corte di Cassazione, wherein the Court has ruled on a passive extradition from Italy to Russia following a request issued by the latter in relation to a Russian former kbg member currently suffering from multiple sclerosis, after an arrest warrant had been issued against her for a common crime committed in Russia. The Corte di Cassazione, when considering the appeal well-founded, pointedly specifies which assessments shall be undertaken – also in light of the obligations arising from the European Convention on Human Rights – by the Italian judicial authority (i.e., the Corte d’Appello) called upon to decide on an extradition request involving a seriously ill individual, taking into account the detention conditions in the requesting State as well as the punishments prescribed therein in terms of the potential risk for the individual of being subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment.