EGMR / Az.: 55352/12

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Aus der Pressemitteilung des EGMR:

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Aden Ahmed v. Malta (application no. 55352/12), which is not final, the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:

a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights; and,

a violation of Article 5 §§ 1 and 4 (right to liberty and security) of the Convention.

The case concerned a Somali national, Ms Ahmed, and her detention in Malta after entering the country irregularly, by boat, to seek asylum in February 2009. This is the first time the Court found a violation of Article 3 against Malta concerning immigration detention conditions. The Court was concerned about the conditions in which Ms Ahmed was detained in Lyster Barracks detention centre (Hal Far), notably the possible exposure of detainees to cold conditions, the lack of female staff in the detention centre, a complete lack of access to open air and exercise for periods of up to three months, an inadequate diet, and the particular vulnerability of Ms Ahmed due to her fragile health and personal emotional circumstances. Taken as a whole, those conditions, in which she had lived for 14 and a
half months as a detained immigrant, amounted to degrading treatment. Moreover, deportation proceedings were not in progress while Ms Ahmed was being detained and the Maltese authorities had taken no steps whatsoever to remove her, so her continued detention for 14 and half months was therefore unlawful. The Court also found that the domestic remedies in Malta had not provided Ms Ahmed with a speedy review of the lawfulness of her detention.