The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the Republic of Cyprus must pay compensation in the amount of 22,000 euros for moral damages to two Syrian citizens who were sent to Lebanon against their will.
This is the second time that the ECHR has awarded compensation to persons affected by Cyprus' migration policies.
Charges under several articles at once
Two 41-year-old Syrian citizens, natives of Idlib, who appear in the case under their initials M.A. and Z.R., accused the Republic of Cyprus of violating Articles 3, 5 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights. According to their version of events, two men, who are each other's cousins, fled Idlib for Lebanon on January 1, 2016 due to hostilities. The first applicant was followed by his family, while the second applicant's family remained in Syria and intended to join him only after he had reached a safe country with good living conditions.
Conditions in the refugee camp are extremely difficult
In Lebanon, the applicants were housed in camps run by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where living conditions were extremely poor. They had no access to health care and no job prospects. Throughout their stay in Lebanon, people feared returning to Syria as the government began expelling Syrians from the country following widespread protests by local residents.
We came to Cyprus to visit our brother
The applicants decided to seek asylum in Cyprus, where the brother of one of them already lived. The men each paid $2,500 to a carrier to take them to Cyprus.
On 6 September 2020, the applicants boarded a ship bound for Cyprus with a group of approximately thirty Syrians and Lebanese, including unaccompanied minors.
On September 7, upon arrival in the territorial waters of the Republic of Cyprus, their boat was intercepted by the port police. The refugees were provided with some food, but were not allowed to continue to their destination. The interpreter on the police boat asked where they came from and said that none of them would be allowed to enter Cyprus and that they should return to Lebanon.
Requests for asylum ignored
The applicants explained to the translator that they would like to apply for asylum. The people explained that they were Syrians, their home was destroyed during the war, and that they had children and families to take care of. The translator replied: There is a new law in Cyprus according to which refugees are not allowed to land on shore. “No one asked the applicants the reasons why they wanted to go to Cyprus or why they could not return to Lebanon. Even when they shouted that they wanted asylum, they were ignored. The applicants managed to contact relatives in Cyprus and reported that they were not allowed to enter the country. The authorities’ only response was to confiscate their identity cards,” the court decision says.
Delivered back to Lebanon
On September 8, the boat passengers were forced to transfer to another ship. On board were police officers and other migrants who were also trying to get to Cyprus by boat and were also returning to Lebanon. On this ship they were taken back to the shores of Lebanon. Upon arrival there, they were handed over to the Lebanese police, who arrested and interrogated them before releasing them. The applicants continue to reside in Lebanon, where they are both registered as refugees with UNHCR.
The lawyer's request was rejected
On the evening of September 7, 2020, lawyer Nicoletta Haralambidou received a call from one of the plaintiffs’ relatives and described the situation to her. The lawyer sent a request to the court and reported on the actions of the authorities. The specialist proposed temporary measures, asking the government not to return the applicants to Lebanon, as this would be contrary to international law. The petition was rejected on a formal basis: the reason was that the document was not supported by evidence and therefore could not be considered by the judge.
Government of Cyprus: refugees were offered conditions
However, the government of the Republic of Cyprus, which was represented in court by Attorney General Giorgos Savvides, described the same events slightly differently. According to this version, the applicants were part of a group of approximately thirty people, including unaccompanied minors, who left Lebanon on board a wooden boat with the aim of reaching Cyprus.
In the early morning of September 5, 2020, when the ship was ten nautical miles off the southeast coast of Cyprus, port police intercepted the boat. One of the passengers on the boat, who spoke Greek, said that those on board left Lebanon for Cyprus on September 3, 2020. Police responded that the passengers would not be allowed to disembark, but provided them with water, food and heat protection.
The boat remained at sea for several days, during which time the Cypriot police brought food and water to the passengers. Those who needed medical attention were transferred to the Famagusta hospital and, after examination, returned to the ship.
The Aliens and Immigration Police officer interviewed the people on the boat and they told him they were heading to Cyprus to look for work. “None of those on board expressed a desire to seek asylum in Cyprus, nor did they react when the translator explained that they could be returned to Lebanon,” the version provided by Cyprus said.
They didn't have permits
On September 7, the police conducted a personal data check of those on board the boat. It was established that none of them had any documents allowing entry into the territory of the Republic of Cyprus. Thus, the decision to return them to Lebanon was made on the basis of a bilateral agreement between the countries.
A private boat was chartered to return the refugees, and the boat's passengers boarded it voluntarily. They were provided with food, water, face masks and sanitizers. Each of them, one by one, was asked again if they wished to apply for asylum, but they all answered in the negative. Upon return to the Lebanese port, the applicants were handed over to the Lebanese authorities and UNHCR in the presence of medical personnel.
Compensation must be paid within three months
Having examined the case file, the ECtHR concluded that the Republic of Cyprus violated Articles 3 (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment) and 13 (right to an effective remedy before a public authority) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 4 of Protocol No. 4 to the Convention on the protection of human rights (prohibition of mass expulsion of foreigners). In this regard, the court ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiffs compensation in the amount of 22,000 euros for moral damage caused within three months, and reimburse the costs of legal proceedings in the total amount of 4,700 euros. If this is not done within three months, interest will be charged on the specified amount at the rate of the ECB's marginal lending rate plus 3%.
The full decision can be read here.
We wrote about the first case of compensation here.
The text was prepared based on materials from the website of the European Court of Human Rights
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