12 MAMATKULOV AND ASKAROV v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 41. In its decision of 26 July 1994 (in Glen Ashby v. Trinidad and Tobago), the Committee dealt with the first case of a refusal by a State to comply with interim measures in the form of a request that it stay execution of the death penalty. It pointed out that by ratifying the Optional Protocol, the State Party had undertaken to cooperate with the Committee in proceedings under the Protocol, and that it had not discharged its obligations under the Optional Protocol and the Covenant (Report of the Human Rights Committee, volume I). 42. In its decision of 19 October 2000 (in Dante Piandiong, Jesus Morallos and Archie Bulan v. the Philippines), the Committee stated: “By adhering to the Optional Protocol, a State Party to the Covenant recognises the competence of the Human Rights Committee to receive and consider communications from individuals claiming to be victims of violations of any of the rights set forth in the Covenant (Preamble and Article 1). Implicit in a State's adherence to the Protocol is an undertaking to cooperate with the Committee in good faith so as to permit and enable it to consider such communications, and after examination to forward its views to the State Party and to the individual (Article 5 §§ 1 and 4). It is incompatible with these obligations for a State Party to take any action that would prevent or frustrate the Committee in its consideration and examination of the communication, and in the expression of its Views. Quite apart, then, from any violation of the Covenant charged to a State Party in a communication, a State Party commits grave breaches of its obligations under the Optional Protocol if it acts to prevent or frustrate consideration by the Committee of a communication alleging a violation of the Covenant, or to render examination by the Committee moot and the expression of its Views nugatory and futile. ... ... Interim measures pursuant to Rule 86 of the Committee's rules adopted in conformity with Article 39 of the Covenant, are essential to the Committee's role under the Protocol. Flouting of the Rule, especially by irreversible measures such as the execution of the alleged victim or his/her deportation from the country, undermines the protection of Covenant rights through the Optional Protocol.” The Committee reiterated this principle in its decision of 15 May 2003 (in Sholam Weiss v. Austria). 2. The United Nations Committee against Torture 43. Rule 108 § 9 of the Rules of Procedure of the Committee against Torture enables provisional measures to be adopted in proceedings brought by individuals alleging a violation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. It reads as follows: “In the course of the consideration of the question of the admissibility of a communication, the Committee or the working group or a special rapporteur designated under Rule 106, paragraph 3, may request the State Party to take steps to avoid possible irreparable damage to the person or persons who claim to be victim(s)