The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday condemned Croatia after the death of an Afghan girl on its border with Serbia and, more generally, for the treatment suffered by her family who claimed asylum. This Afghan family of fourteen had crossed five countries to arrive in Croatia in 2017, more than a year after leaving Afghanistan. Its members claim to have been turned back by Croatian police officers who "
refused them any possibility of seeking asylum
" and ordered them to return to Serbia "
by rail
". Along the way, a 6-year-old child died after being hit by a train. For their part, the Croatian authorities denied having turned away the family, again according to the ECHR.
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The magistrates condemned Zagreb for "
multiple
" violations of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, namely the "
right to life
", the "
prohibition of collective expulsions of foreigners
" and "
inhuman treatment. or degrading
”, the“
right to security and liberty
”and“
the right to an individual remedy
”.
The judges stressed that the investigation into the death of the girl had been ineffective, and considered the facts denounced by the family "
as true.
".
The Croatian authorities, they noted in particular, had refused to use the GPS signals and mobile phones of the Croatian police to establish whether they had indeed been in contact with the family.
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Several months after his refoulement, the family had finally managed to enter Croatia.
She had been placed in a detention center for more than two months, making "
requests for international protection
".
In this regard, the judges pointed out in particular a lack of diligence in the treatment of these requests, the restrictions of contact between the family and his lawyer, as well as the “
pressure exerted on this lawyer
” by the Croatian authorities.
For these five violations of the Convention, Croatia was ordered to pay 40,000 euros to the Afghan family for “non-
pecuniary damage
”, a high sum compared to its usual practice.
