MAMATKULOV AND ASKAROV v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 21 B. The parties' submissions 1. The applicants 58. The lawyers representing the applicants said that at the time of the latter's extradition there were substantial grounds for believing that their return to Uzbekistan would result in their being subjected to treatment proscribed by Article 3. In that connection, they denounced the poor conditions and use of torture in Uzbek prisons. 59. In support of their allegations, they referred to reports by “international investigative bodies” in the human rights field denouncing both an administrative practice of torture and other forms of ill-treatment of political dissidents, and the Uzbek regime's repressive policy towards dissidents. 60. They stated that the applicants had denied the charges in the extradition proceedings in Turkey and adduced relevant evidence in their defence. Accordingly, the fact that the applicants, who were denied the right to legal assistance from a lawyer of their choosing, had fully admitted the same charges to the Uzbek authorities showed that they had been forced through torture and ill-treatment to “confess” to crimes they had not committed. 2. The Government 61. The Government maintained that in extradition proceedings Article 3 should only apply in cases in which it was certain that the prohibited treatment or punishment would be inflicted in the requesting State and in which the person concerned had produced strong evidence that substantial grounds existed for believing that he or she faced torture or ill-treatment. 62. The Government observed that the applicants had been extradited after assurances had been obtained from the Uzbek authorities. Those assurances included an undertaking not to impose the death penalty and to ensure that the applicants would not be subjected to torture or ill-treatment or be liable to confiscation of their property generally. The Uzbek authorities had given an assurance that the Republic of Uzbekistan, which was a party to the United Nations Convention against Torture, accepted and reaffirmed its obligation to comply with the requirements of that convention both as regards Turkey and the international community as a whole. Furthermore, the reports of the human rights organisations did not contain any information to support the allegations of treatment contrary to Article 3. 63. The Government noted that the applicants, who had been charged with acts of terrorism, had been sentenced by the Uzbekistan Supreme Court to twenty and eleven years' imprisonment respectively and that their trial had been attended by some eighty people, including officials from the Turkish and other embassies and representatives of Helsinki Watch. They