Case summaries
The detention and proposed expulsion of a Kyrgyzstani national are declared by the European Court of Human rights to constitute a violation of Article 3 and Article 5 of the Convention. The expulsion would be a violation of Article 3 due to the discrimination, persecution and human rights abuses against the ethnic Uzbek group, to which the applicant belongs.
The mistreatment of the applicant during detention and a lack of investigation into the mistreatment constituted a violation of both the substantive and procedural limbs of Article 3.
The deprivation of liberty during detention could not be deemed lawful under Article 5 as domestic law was not deemed foreseeable in its application.
Due to systemic deficiencies in the Maltese asylum system, a responsibility on the part of the German authorities to examine the asylum application exists by virtue of the sovereignty clause in the Dublin III Regulation.
When assessing the legal requirement that a Belgian spouse has to prove that he/she has means of subsistence which are “stable, regular and sufficient”, the applicant’s financial means can be taken into consideration [because according to art. 221.1 and 2 of the Civil Code the Belgian spouse is capable of legally disposing of the applicant’s financial means].
The Court found that Article 4 had been violated because of delay by national authorities in formally recognising that the Applicant was a victim of human trafficking, and because of failings of the police and the courts in prosecuting the individuals suspected of being responsible. Further, Articles 6(1) and 13 had been violated because of delays in the length of criminal proceedings against those individuals, and because the Applicant did not have recourse to an effective remedy to complain about this.
In light of the Court’s previous jurisprudence relating to the conditions at Soufli detention centre, the Greek government has violated Article 3 ECHR on account of overpopulation and poor hygiene conditions, has violated Article 5 § 1 ECHR by not taking steps to carry out the expulsion in the five months of the applicant’s detention and did not provide an effective judicial remedy to challenge his detention pending expulsion, in violation of Article 5 § 4 ECHR.
The Court found a violation of Article 3 in relation to a subsequent application for asylum, which had been rejected on the basis that it contained no new elements indicating that the Applicants ran a real risk of being subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment on deportation to Russia. Because new information had in fact been provided, the national authorities were under an obligation to thoroughly review the information in order to assure themselves that the Applicants’ rights under Article 3 would be safeguarded.
The Court held that there was no violation of Article 3 ECHR in the event of the applicant’s removal to Guinea because the applicant had failed to show a real risk of being re-excised in the event of her return to her country of origin. The Court also found that there had been no violation of Article 13 ECHR.
This case is concerned with whether an appeal against the lawfulness of an asylum applicant’s detention was allowed. Thus the prejudicial question was formulated questioning whether the measure under article 8(3)(a-b) recast Reception Conditions Directive is valid with regards to the provisions in Article 6 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (CFREU) subject to Article 5 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The extension of a transfer time limit in accordance with Article 20(2) of Regulation (EC) No. 343/2003 of 18 February 2003 (“Dublin II”) does not create a new decision to transfer the Applicant to the responsible Member State, but has the effect of maintaining in force the initial transfer decision.
A judgment which cancels a detention measure based on Article L. 551-1 of the French Code for the Entry and Residence of Foreigners in France and of Asylum Right (“FCERFFAR”) on the grounds that the extension of the transfer time limit has not been notified to the Applicant in accordance with the formal requirements provided for in the initial decision to transfer, must be void.
A subsequent application is not admissible unless the interested party presents new facts or elements relating to his personnel situation or to the situation in his country of origin, out of which he could not have had knowledge of previously, and likely, if they have probative value, to modify the appreciation of the legitimacy or the credibility of the application of the interested party.
The director general of OFPRA was right to find that the elements that the applicants presented before him did not significantly increase the probability that they would meet the qualifying conditions to claim protection and that their subsequent applications were inadmissible, without having undertaken a hearing before making the decision on inadmissibility.