Facts: the applicant was a German national; he was charged with capital crime and was serving a sentence in the U.K. An order for the applicant's extradition to Virginia in the United States was issued. Therefore he faced a possible death sentence in Virginia and exposure to the death row.
Complaint: the applicant claimed that the extradition from the UK to the USA and the risk of serving on death row would constitute a violation of article 3 of the European Convention.
Holding: the ECHR found a violation of article 3, thereby recognizing the extra-territorial effect of the ECHR
Reasoning: the Court held that Article 3 could not be interpreted
as prohibiting, in itself, capital punishment. However, the conditions of
execution of the punishment (exposure to "death row" syndrome) would expose
the applicant to a real risk of treatment going beyond the threshold set by
Article 3.
