European court fines Germany, Greece for deportation of Syrian refugee

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled against both Germany and Greece over the deportation of a Syrian asylum seeker in 2018.

On Tuesday the court ordered Germany to pay 8,000 Euros for failing to ensure the man had received an adequate asylum procedure on his deportation to Greece.

The court also ordered Greece to pay 6,500 Euros to the man for holding him under poor conditions for two months upon return.

The man, who was born in 1993, told the court that he had fled to Greece in 2018 and subsequently moved to Germany over a lack of international protection and fears he would be arrested and transferred to Leros where he had initially been held on his arrival.

On arrival to Germany, he had requested asylum but was deported back to Greece after German authorities determined Greece had the responsibility of processing his claim under the EU's Dublin Regulation.

The court determined that the detention of the man upon his return by the Greek police was a violation of Article Three of the European Convention on Human Rights, prohibiting inhuman and degrading treatment.

The court also held that Greece had violated the man's rights under Article Five section Four which holds that ensures people have the right to court proceedings for anyone "deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention."

Further, the court found Germany in violation of the procedural limb of Article Three.

In 2020, after the initial deportations and mistreatment, the man was granted refugee status by the Greek authorities.

There have been numerous controversies within Greece over the issue of refugees and asylum seekers, largely over the conduct of the Greek coastguard when attempting to stop crossings.

This includes allegations that 40 people were killed after the Greek Coastguard pushed back a boat that was carrying people attempting to seek asylum in the country, with nine being physically pushed into the sea.