The Supreme Court handed down its judgment today in Zabolotnyi v The Mateszalka District Court, Hungary [2021] UKSC 14. Mr Zabolotnyi resisted extradition to Hungary on the basis that he faced a real risk of being detained in overcrowded prison conditions, in breach of his rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Florence Iveson acted for the Appellant, Mr Zabolotnyi, led by Jonathan Hall QC. The Supreme Court upheld the Appellant’s submissions on the certified question, affirming that there is no heightened test for the admissibility of evidence concerning alleged breaches of assurances given to a third state. Accordingly, the test applied by the Divisional Court below was wrong. However, the appeal was dismissed because the Supreme Court found that even if the correct test had been applied there was still not enough evidence to show a real risk of a breach of article 3.