By Alex Yeager
Angry farmers in Brussels made
their voices heard last Monday, pelting police officers with eggs and
driving tractors through the main streets of the city. European markets have
been flooded with milk and egg supplies, causing price drops so large that
farmers are barely able to make back production costs. Protestors have called
for the re-implementation of price stabilizers by European Union policymakers,
but global trade factors such as decreasing Chinese demand and Russian
sanctions have also contributed to the falling prices.
By Ena Cefo
In the case of Trabelsi v. Belgium, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
held that the extradition of a Tunisian national from Belgium to the United
States violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, dealing
with the prohibition on inhuman and degrading treatment. Mr. Trabelsi
complained that his extradition to the United States exposed him to an
irreducible life sentence and was thus a violation of Article 3. ECHR holds
that a life sentence is not itself prohibited by Article 3, but is a violation
if it is irreducible. Given the
gravity of Mr. Trabelsi’s terrorism charges, the relevant U.S. criminal
penalties, and the lack of assurances by U.S. authorities to spare Mr. Trabelsi
from an irreducible life sentence, the ECHR ruled that Mr. Trabelsi would
potentially face an irreducible
sentence and his extradition was thus in violation of Article 3.
