The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday ruled in favour of a Russian citizen who argued his lengthy detention in Cyprus pending extradition violated his rights.

According to the ECHR, Iuiri Khokhlov – born in 1970 – was detained for over two years on the island ahead of his extradition to Russia in connection with an investigation of alleged large-scale fraud.

Khokhlov was arrested in October 2018 based on an international arrest warrant while travelling through Larnaca International Airport and was taken into custody.

His extradition was delayed, in part, due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Relying on article 5 and 4 (right to liberty and security/right to the legality of detention) of the European Convention, the applicant claimed that his detention pending extradition was unlawful and unduly long, in particular that the appeal procedure for his case before the Supreme Court was excessively long.

The ECHR found a violation of Article 5 and a violation of Article 4, and ordered €26,000 be paid for non-material damage as well as costs of €4,800.