The European Court of Human Rights has communicated to Poland another case concerning illegal deportations on the Polish-Belarusian border and arbitrary detention in guarded centers for foreigners.
The European Court of Human Rights communicated to the Polish government the complaint of our clients who experienced an illegal push-back at the Polish border (M.M. et al. v. Poland). They were then placed in the Temporary Guarded Center for Foreigners in Wędrzyn, where the conditions violated the basic standards of human rights protection.
The case concerns the citizens of Yemen and Afghanistan, who in August 2021 were pushed back from Poland to Belarus, despite the fact that they submitted oral applications for refugee status (granting international protection) in the presence of witnesses and Border Guard officers. The foreigners lodged a complaint against their detention, but the District Court in Sokółka discontinued the proceedings, pointing out that the activities of the Border Guard officers in the contested scope are not subject to judicial review.
After another push from Poland from men, asylum applications were finally accepted. The men were placed in a guarded center for foreigners for a period of 5 to 8 months. They stayed in the Temporary Guarded Center for Foreigners in Wędrzyn, where the conditions were recognized, among others, by the Supreme Audit Office and the Commisioner for Human Rights for possibly violating the basic standards of human rights protection. The applicants submitted that they had been kept in cells of less than 3 m2 (which is the minimum size of a cell according to the European standard for the protection of human rights), the sanitary conditions in the center were inadequate, they had not been provided with real access to medical assistance, despite, inter alia, broken finger, nor for psychological help. Collective repercussions were applied to foreigners after a rebellion in which they did not participate, including their access to hot water was cut off, their personal belongings were scattered and sprayed with pepper spray.
The complaint alleges a violation of, among others:
- Right to life, prohibition of torture, prohibition of collective expulsions by applying push-back to applicants
- The right to an effective remedy in the absence of a real possibility to effectively challenge the application of the push-back against them
- Prohibition of arbitrary detention
- Prohibition of torture and the right to family life due to inadequate conditions in the Temporary Guarded Center for Foreigners in Wędrzyn.
Foreigners before the European Court of Human Rights are represented by the advocate cooperating with the Association. Małgorzata Jazwińska.
This is another case communicated by the European Court of Human Rights against Poland concerning illegal deportations (push-back) on the Polish-Belarusian border. In total, 9 cases involving a total of 73 applicants have already been communicated ( R.A. i in. p-ko Polsce, M.M. i in. p-ko Polsce, K.A. i M.A. i in. p-ko Polsce, F.A. i S.H. p-ko Polsce, A.S. p-ko Polsce, M.A. p-ko Polsce, I.A. i in. p-ko Polsce, T.Z. i R.Z. p-ko Polsce, A.A. i in. p-ko Polsce).