ECtHR Ilias and Ahmed v. Hungary and Z.A. and others v. Russia referred to the Grand Chamber

Date: 
Monday, September 18, 2017

On 18 September 2017, a Grand Chamber decided to accept the referral of 6 cases to the Grand Chamber and to reject 23 other cases. Among the cases referred are the following:

  • Ilias and Ahmed v. Hungary (case no. 47287/15), concerning the border-zone detention of two Bangladeshi asylum-seekers and their removal from Hungary to Serbia. In March 2017, a Chamber judgment found a violation of Articles 3, 5 §§ 1 and 4 and Article 13 read in conjunction with Article 3.
  • Z.A. and others v. Russia (case nos. 61411/15, 61420/15, 61427/15 and 3028/16), which concerns applicants from Iraq, Palestine, Somalia and Syria who were travelling via the airport in Moscow and were denied entry into Russia, despite unsuccessfully applying for asylum. The applicants remained in the transit zone for considerably lengthy periods, could not enter Russian territory and did not have the option of entering a State other than that which they had left. In its Chamber judgment in March 2017, the ECtHR found a violation of Articles 3 and 5 § 1 ECHR.

The Grand Chamber panel has also rejected the requests for referral in cases:

  • Thimothawes v. Belgium (no violation of Article 5 § 1 ECHR regarding the detention at the airport transit centre of a vulnerable asylum-seeker with mental-health issues with a view to his expulsion), and;
  • Thuo v. Cyprys (violation of Article 3 ECHR due to the authorities’ failure to investigate the alleged ill-treatment and due to the detention conditions, but no violation of Article 3 ECHR on account of the alleged ill-treatment during the deportation process).

Therefore, the judgments by the Chambers in these two cases became final.



This item was reproduced with the permission of ECRE from the weekly ELENA legal update supported by the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Funding Programme and distributed by email. The purpose of these updates is to inform asylum lawyers and legal organizations supporting asylum seekers and refugees of recent developments in the field of asylum law. Please note that the information provided is taken from publicly available information on the internet. Every reasonable effort is made to make the content accurate and up to date at the time each item is published but no responsibility for its accuracy and correctness, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by ECRE, the IRC or its partners.

                                                     

 

Keywords: 
Detention
Effective remedy (right to)
Inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment