Soering judgment (ECtHR, July 7, 1989)

Facts of the case

Jens Soering, a German citizen, was wanted in the United Kingdom in connection with the double murder of his girlfriend's parents in Virginia, USA. The United States requested his extradition. Soering argued that, if convicted, he faced the death penalty and that the associated years of waiting on death row (the "death row phenomenon") were incompatible with Article 3 ECHR.

The ECtHR's decision

On July 7, 1989 the ECtHR held (application no. 14038/88) that extraditing Soering to the United States would violate Article 3 ECHR. Its central holding: the ECHR contracting states share responsibility for the foreseeable consequences of an extradition. The extraditing state violates Article 3 ECHR if it surrenders a person to a state where that person faces a real risk of torture or inhuman treatment.

Significance for extradition law

The Soering judgment is the foundation of the European prohibition of refoulement in extradition law. It has since been cited by the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht, BVerfG) and the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) and has shaped the entire doctrine on Article 3 ECHR as a bar to extradition. Subsequent ECtHR decisions (Chahal, Mamatkulov, Trabelsi) built upon and refined the Soering case law.

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