The applicant, national of Bangladesh, arrived in Cyprus illegally and was subsequently arrested on 11 August 2020, and an expulsion order was issued against him on 12 August 2020. He applied for asylum on 27 August 2020 at the same time when a detention order was issued against him based on the Law on Refugees. The asylum application was rejected and the applicant did not appeal within the 75 days deadline. An expulsion order was issued again on 3 February 2021.

In these proceedings, the applicant is contesting the decision to refuse legal aid for the purpose of filing a habeas corpus request (a writ that determines the lawfulness of detention). According to the national legislation, free legal aid for this type of procedure can be granted only to asylum applicants, but the applicant has lost the status of asylum applicant since he did not request the reopening of his asylum application nor did he appeal the negative decision.

The legal aid request was dismissed.