Second, the Austrian authorities determined that A.’s asylum procedure was not an impediment to extradition. This closed off yet another avenue for A. to have his claims of fear of persecution, including risk or torture and ill-treatment, fully considered in Austria. In the end, A. was extradited to Russia without a full and fair asylum determination proceeding, in violation of his right to seek asylum—and on the basis of inadequate diplomatic assurances in violation of his right not to be sent back to a place where he would be at risk of torture or ill-treatment. Turkey Update: Mamatkulov and Askarov v. Turkey In February 2005, the European Court of Human Rights’ Grand Chamber issued a decision in the case of Mamatkulov and Askarov v. Turkey.241 The two men were extradited from Turkey to Uzbekistan in 1999 based on assurances against torture and unfair trial from the Uzbek authorities. The men were transferred to Uzbekistan despite a request to the Turkish authorities from the European Court of Human Rights to delay the extraditions until the court had an opportunity to review the men’s applications. The men’s applications to the court alleged, among other things, that Turkey violated the ban on refoulement under article 3. It was anticipated that the Grand Chamber might rule on the reliability and/or sufficiency of diplomatic assurances against torture from the government of Uzbekistan,242 but the court determined that it did not have sufficient information before it to rule that article 3 of the ECHR had been violated.243 The court did not engage in a discussion of the reliability or sufficiency of the assurances. The decision was a landmark ruling, nonetheless, because it concluded that the European Court’s request to Turkey to delay the men’s extraditions was binding on Turkey. In the Mamatkulov case, the court determined that Turkey violated article 34, the right to individually petition the court, when its authorities ignored the court’s request to stay the extraditions to Uzbekistan of Mamatkulov and Askarov pending the court’s examination of their applications. 241 See, “Empty Promises”, pp. 26-29. 242 See Human Rights Watch and AIRE Center, Amicus Curiae Brief to the European Court of Human Rights in the Case of Mamatkulov and Askarov v. Turkey, January 28, 2004 [online] http://hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/turkey/eu-submission.pdf (retrieved March 13, 2005). 243 European Court of Human Rights Judgment, Mamatkulov and Askarov v. Turkey, February 4, 2005 [online] http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?item=2&portal=hbkm&action=html&highlight=mamatkulov&sessionid =1559995&skin=hudoc-en (retrieved March 20, 2005). 79 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17 NO. 4(D)