REDRESS and Fair Trials have submitted written comments in the case Sentsov and Kolchenko v. Russia before the European Court of Human Rights. Oleg Gennadyevich Sentsov is a Ukrainian filmmaker who is serving a twenty-year prison sentence in Russian correctional facilities. He alleges that his conviction was based on evidence obtained by torture.

The intervention argues that:

• Based on the absolute prohibition of torture, all evidence obtained by torture or other prohibited ill-treatment should be excluded from use at trial.
• Reliance upon torture evidence in court proceedings violates the right to a fair trial, whatever the source of that evidence.
• Once a defendant has made a credible claim that evidence was obtained by torture, the burden of proof should then shift to the State to prove that the evidence was not obtained by torture, if that evidence is to be used in the proceedings.
• In considering whether there is a real risk that evidence has been obtained by torture, courts should examine whether key torture prevention safeguards have been implemented.

You can read the full submission here and more about the case here.