European Database of Asylum Law

The case concerns the potential removal of a Syrian national of Armenian origin and Christian denomination from Greece to Türkiye under the EU-Türkiye Statement of 18 March 2026, following the rejection of his asylum claim on safe third country grounds. The Court struck out the Article 3 complaint concerning the risk of ill-treatment upon removal due to the cessation of risk. It found no violation of Article 13 in conjunction with Article 3 having regard to the multi-layered examination of the asylum claim and the reliance on EU–Türkiye assurances and supporting material, and held that the conditions of the applicant’s detention in a Greek police station amounted to a violation of Article 3 ECHR.

The case concerns seven Venezuelan nationals who arrived in Curaçao in April 2019 and were placed in immigration detention following refusal of entry and removal orders. The Court found a violation of Article 3 ECHR in relation to the use of force during their detention, the absence of an effective and independent investigation and the lack of justification for the use of rubber bullets against applicants in custody. It further found a violation of Article 5 § 4 ECHR, due to the lack of access to a speedy judicial review of the lawfulness of their detention, particularly due to the lack of accessible remedies, language barriers, and absence of effective legal assistance. 

The Committee, invoking the principle of non-refoulement and recognising gender-based violence as discrimination under Article 1 of the Convention, determined that removing the author to Greece would violate Articles 2 (c)-(f), 3, and 12 of the Convention due to the state party's failure to conduct an individualized, gender-sensitive, and trauma-informed assessment of the real and foreseeable risks the author faces as a woman experiencing gender-based violence.

Due to the COVID-19 health crisis, and especially the cancellation of flights to the applicant’s country of origin, the continuation of immigration detention is no longer required because an effective return cannot be considered anymore as a reasonable prospect.  

The detention to facilitate the return is used if the return is considered as a reasonable prospect. The period in immigration detention must correspond only to the time which is strictly necessary for the enforcement of the return measure. The lack of a justification for the failure to enforce the return does not prove that the time in immigration detention was used effectively and that an extension could be needed.