The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled against Germany following a routine deportation to Greece. Germany was instructed to make an €8,000 compensation payment to the plaintiff, in what the NiUS news site called a “crazy” decision.
Back in 2018, German authorities made an arrest on their border with Austria. A Syrian asylum seeker was arrested and deported on the same day. Strasbourg subsequently condemned Germany for this action, with judges deciding that the German authorities failed to ensure that the refugee received a suitable asylum procedure on arrival in Greece.
Likewise, according to the ruling, Germany did not do enough to prevent the plaintiff’s potential mistreatment in Greece.
The Syrian was detained in a Greek police station for more than two months, leading ECHR to rule that his human rights were violated because Athens had flouted the Court’s ban on “inhumane treatment.” In turn, Germany was convicted on the speculative grounds that such mistreatment within Greece could not be ruled out at the time of deportation.
Greece’s handling of its high volume of migrant arrivals has come under attack from the human rights organisation the Council of Europe as well as NGOs and the Left in the European Parliament. The role of the ECHR in obstructing border control has also led Britain’s Conservative leadership candidates to debate whether the UK should opt out of the institution.
The Syrian plaintiff, now €8,000 better off, was born in 1993 and first fled to Greece in 2018. Upon travelling on to Germany, where he intended to apply for asylum, he was deported back to Greece.
Germany was also forced to pay legal costs, while Greece, too, was ordered to pay a fine.
