Case summaries

The Applicant submitted applications for the assignment of a legal adviser and legal aid at the same time as his appeal. The Asylum Court rejected the appeal and the applications for the assignment of a legal adviser and legal aid as inadmissible. The Constitutional Court of Austria revoked this finding with reference to Art 15 Procedures Directive: the Asylum Court should not have been permitted to reject the applications for the assignment of a legal adviser and legal aid, but should have pronounced a judgment on the merits by means of a separate decision that could be challenged with a legal remedy.

For the purposes of access to legal cover for persons applying for international protection, documents issued by the Italian police certifying a person’s identity (residence permit) should be considered as being valid and wholly sufficient to identify the foreigner and, in consequence, to provide legal aid at the State’s expense, regardless of the precise particulars in the country of origin.

The applicants, who had been recognised as refugees by UNHCR, faced risk of ill-treatment contrary to Article 3 upon Turkey’s proposed  deportation of them to either Iran or Iraq. They had no effective opportunity to make an asylum claim or challenge their deportation. Further their detention had no legal justification and they had been unable to challenge its lawfulness. The Court found violations of Article 3, 13, 5(1), 5(2) and 5(4). 

This case concerned the insufficient sourcing of evidence relied upon by the decision maker in dismissing the applicant’s claim for protection. It was found to be a violation of Art 16.1 of the Asylum Procedures Directive where the decision was insufficiently sourced in the applicant’s file. Further that this violation is not remedied by making specific references to those sources before the court. 

The applicant lodged an appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the decision issued by the High National Court refusing refugee status. The applicant challenged the decision on the grounds that the right to legal assistance, representation and to the assistance of an interpreter had been violated.

The applicant was the leader of the PKK and the most wanted person in Turkey. He was arrested and sentenced to the death penalty. Breaches of Articles 3, 5 and 6 were found with regard to his detention, the imposition of the death penalty and his rights as the defence to a fair trial.

The Court found that in the event of the United Kingdom Secretary of State’s decision to extradite a fugitive indicted of murder in the United States being implemented, there would be a violation of Article 3 due to the possibility of his conviction of a death sentence, and the treatment and punishment he would face on death row in Virginia.