Stage 2 details (arrest/ detention/ extradition):

Ergashev was charged in absentia on 8 December 2007 by the Uzbek authorities. The charges related to a number of crimes including membership of an extremist organisation (Hizb ut-Tahrir), attempting to overthrow the State’s constitutional order and dissemination of the views of a radical extremist movement.

Ergashev was arrested in St Petersburg on 1 September 2008. The Uzbek authorities requested his extradition from Russia on 25 September 2008. Ergashev appealed the order on grounds of fear of persecution for his political and religious views. He was released in February 2009 due to an expiration of the detention order, but was rearrested in March. The St Petersburg City Court overruled the extradition order in August 2009 as Ergashev was, at the time, requesting asylum in Russia. He was subsequently released from prison again. However, the City Court reviewed the case in May 2010 and upheld the extradition order as Uzbek authorities guaranteed no ill-harm would come to Ergashev. The Supreme Court of Russia further supported the decision in July 2010 and the extradition order became final. Ergashev was rearrested briefly in September 2010, before being released under house arrest pending extradition to Uzbekistan. The case was taken to the ECHR who ruled that the forcible return of Ergashev to Uzbekistan would lead to a real risk of torture and would therefore violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. His extradition was cancelled (ECHR, 2011; IWPR, 2009).