Strasbourg court denies Russian judge was involved in ruling
THE court that prevented the UK from sending asylum seekers to Rwanda is still allowing a Russian judge to preside over cases in Strasbourg.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has declined to say which judge ruled on the emergency hearing that has derailed Boris Johnson’s key immigration policy.
Officials have expressed concern that the judge has not been named and in some reports suggested “it could have been the Russian”, a claim strongly denied by an ECHR spokesman.
It is understood by The Daily Telegraph that the judge involved was one of two allowed to hear interim cases – either the representative from Hungary, which has had its own clashes with the ECHR, or Liechtenstein.
The British judge on the ECHR was barred from hearing the case because the challenge was being brought against the Government.
Mikhail Lobov remains a sitting judge on the court despite Russia being expelled from the Council of Europe, the organisation that upholds the human rights convention, in March.
The 51-year-old was suspended following the invasion of Ukraine but despite alleged human rights atrocities committed during the war, he was reinstated to the bench on a technicality.
He will not leave until Sep 16 when Russia formally ceases to be party to the European Convention on Human Rights. The ECHR has 47 judges – each representing a signatory state. But calls for interim measures, as put before the court on Tuesday evening, are routinely taken by one of three duty judges.
According to the ECHR website, the duty judges listed in charge of interim measures are: Tim Eicke QC from Britain; Peter Paczolay, Hungary’s appointment; and Carlo Ranzoni from Liechtenstein.
On Tuesday, the ECHR granted an urgent injunction to an asylum seeker to remove him from the flight to Rwanda due to take off that evening.
Britain’s Supreme Court had ruled hours earlier that the deportation could go ahead.
The ECHR said in a public announcement in the case of KN v the United Kingdom that the court had “indicated to the UK Government that the applicant should not be removed to Rwanda until three weeks after the delivery of the final domestic decision in his ongoing judicial review proceedings”. The decision is legally binding.
The court pointed out that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had already raised concerns that migrants sent to Rwanda would not have access to “fair and efficient procedures for the determination of refugee status”. The full judgment has not been made public.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, has condemned the ruling, saying she was “disappointed” and “very surprised” at the intervention by the European court despite “repeated earlier success in our domestic courts”.
Tory MP Mark Francois, chairman of the Eurosceptic ERG group, told Mailonline: “Now that we have left the EU it is deeply frustrating to see another group of European judges – sometimes even anonymous ones – telling us how to run our own country.”
In a statement the ECHR said: “The Russian judge is not a duty judge and therefore could not have taken the decision.
“I also confirm that it is not possible for a duty judge to make an interim measure concerning his own country.
“The ECHR said judges in interim cases were never identified because of longstanding internal rules.”