Estradizione passiva e violazioni sistematiche dei diritti umani in Cina. Sviluppi nella giurisprudenza italiana

The contribution analyzes Judgment No. 21125/23 of the Italian Court of Cassation on passive extradition to China, in which the Court overruled without referral a decision of the Court of Appeals that had granted an extradition request made by the Chinese Authority, on the grounds of the existence – in the country of destination – of the risk for the individual of being exposed to inhuman or degrading treatment. This judgment proves notably groundbreaking from the standpoint of the evidentiary standards applicable to extradition proceedings. It is likely to have an impact on future case law in this field. Indeed, echoing what was recently affirmed by the European Court of Human Rights in Liu v. Poland, the Court of Cassation concluded that, in the case of extradition to China, the risk of being subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment must be considered to exist in re ipsa on the basis of what emerges from several international sources evidencing conditions of systematic violence in Chinese detention centers, so that the individual concerned will be exempt from having to prove the existence of a personal risk.