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Destroyed houses near Idlib, Syria (in April)
Photo: Moawia Atrash / imago images / ZUMA Wire
Germany has to bring back a refugee who has been deported to Greece from Syria, a country with a civil war. That was decided by the Munich Administrative Court, as a judicial spokesman confirmed. The Federal Republic will be "obliged to arrange for the applicant to be brought back from Greece immediately," according to the decision of May 4th. The human rights organization Pro Asyl rated the decision as "gossip" for Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU).
The Syrian was deported in August last year - just one day after the undocumented federal police discovered him on a train to Munich entering via Kiefersfelden. From the court's point of view, however, the EU's so-called Dublin procedure should have been used, said a court spokesman. The deportation is therefore "unlawful and, as an onerous measure, also violates the applicant's rights."
The refugee's lawyer, Matthias Lehnert, said: “The administrative court says clearly: procedural requirements and the obligation to check compliance with human rights cannot be replaced by express proceedings at the border, especially by the federal police.
The Dublin Regulation cannot be circumvented unilaterally or through an agreement between two Member States. "
Leftists are calling for the deal to be ended immediately
The so-called Dublin Regulation is intended to regulate that an asylum procedure only takes place in one European country.
In principle, the asylum application must be submitted and processed where a refugee first steps on the soil of a member state.
If an asylum seeker lands at an airport in the Federal Republic, this would be Germany.
Employees of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) are responsible for the actual asylum procedure.
Pro Asyl, the agreement reached between Seehofer and Greece in 2018 to be able to send refugees back within 48 hours described it as "clearly unlawful".
This also violates EU law.
The left in the Bundestag demanded from Seehofer to end the "deal" with Greece and also with Spain immediately.
hba / dpa