These notes concern the Strasbourg case-law that cases against the United Kingdom have shaped, and the Convention dimension of cases decided by the courts of the United Kingdom. On extradition, life imprisonment and diplomatic assurances, many of the leading judgments were delivered in cases against the United Kingdom, from Soering to Sanchez-Sanchez, by way of Othman and Vinter.
In extradition cases, time is decisive: once the person has been surrendered, a finding of a violation can no longer prevent what awaits them. Some of these notes examine what Article 3 requires before that point, and how the question must be put to the European Court of Human Rights in time. Others start from a judgment of the UK Supreme Court: why a complaint may still be declared inadmissible in Strasbourg, and what is left for the European Court to decide when the highest domestic court has already considered the right relied on.
Just Rights Europe does not replace the lawyers conducting the domestic proceedings; it works on the Convention dimension alone, after the final decision of the highest national court.
A woman of 63, extradited from Italy to the United States, sentenced in Michigan to a maximum of 60 years with a minimum of 40. Formally not life without parole. What McCallum v. Italy teaches about the Sanchez-Sanchez test and about diplomatic assurances.
In 2025, 385 of the 397 applications against the United Kingdom dealt with in Strasbourg were declared inadmissible or struck out. One British case illustrates the difficulty facing litigants better than that 97% rate: two people brought end-of-life complaints to the Court, and each was met with the same word, “inadmissible”, for different reasons.
Fergus Gaughran pleaded guilty to drink-driving. Years later, the police were still entitled to keep his DNA profile, fingerprints and photograph indefinitely. He challenged that policy all the way to the UK Supreme Court and lost. In Strasbourg, all seven judges found a violation of his right to privacy.
Four years after Sanchez-Sanchez v. the United Kingdom, the case of Beverly McCallum invites a precise question to the extradition judge. Once a mandatory life sentence has been ruled out, what is actually known about the minimum time the person is likely to spend in prison?
These notes are general information on Convention law; they do not constitute legal advice and do not create a lawyer-client relationship.
After the final decision of the highest national court, a case may be submitted to us directly, by the client or by their lawyer.