Jailed terrorist appeals solitary confinement to European rights court News
Jailed terrorist appeals solitary confinement to European rights court

[JURIST] A jailed Venezuelan terrorist Wednesday appealed [ECHR press release] to the European Court of Human Rights [official website], arguing that the eight years he spent in solitary confinement in a French prison was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text]. Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, otherwise known as "Carlos the Jackal" [BBC profile] for his part in deadly bombings, hostage takings, and assassinations in Europe during the 1970s and 1980s, is serving a life sentence for the murders of two French secret agents and an alleged informer in 1975. Sanchez was held in solitary confinement from 1994 to 2002 because he was deemed to be dangerous and posed a risk for escape. He claims that his detention in the small, "dilapidated" cell with only two-hour breaks from the cell each day for walks, resulted in inhumane and degrading treatment, and that authorities did not follow proper protocol in allowing the confinement. Last year, a lower chamber of the European court ruled that the eight-year solitary confinement did not violate the treaty. AP has more.