The European Court of Human Rights has found Macedonia responsible for the torture and ill-treatment of a man who was mistaken for a terrorism suspect.
The December 13 decision by the court in Strasbourg, France is the first major legal victory for Khaled el-Masri.
The Lebanese-born German citizen says he was abducted by the CIA in Macedonia in 2003.
El-Masri says the CIA kept him in a Skopje hotel for 23 days and then interrogated him at a secret prison in Afghanistan, where he remained until 2004.
Macedonia denied involvement in the kidnapping, but the court ordered Skopje to pay $78,300 in damages.
Previously, el-Masri brought unsuccessful legal cases in the United States and Europe against the practice of “extraordinary rendition” or the capture and extrajudicial transfer of suspects from one country to another.
The December 13 decision by the court in Strasbourg, France is the first major legal victory for Khaled el-Masri.
The Lebanese-born German citizen says he was abducted by the CIA in Macedonia in 2003.
El-Masri says the CIA kept him in a Skopje hotel for 23 days and then interrogated him at a secret prison in Afghanistan, where he remained until 2004.
Macedonia denied involvement in the kidnapping, but the court ordered Skopje to pay $78,300 in damages.
Previously, el-Masri brought unsuccessful legal cases in the United States and Europe against the practice of “extraordinary rendition” or the capture and extrajudicial transfer of suspects from one country to another.