The applicant, a national of Morocco, was found and arrested at the Austrian border with Slovenia on 28 September 2020 ina group with six other people. He used English and French words for  'asylum' to indicate his need for international protection but no procedure was initiated to examine his application. He was also undressed and searched. He was then returned to Slovenia and from there to Croatia and then to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The applicant complained about the lack of access to asylum procedures and the violation of his privacy due to the search to which he was subjected.

The Regional Administrative Court of Styria held that it assumes that the applicant, including other persons of the intercepted group, used the word ‘asylum’ several times and concluded that pushbacks were sometimes applied methodically in Austria. It also noted that the deportation by Slovenian police to Croatia and to Bosnia and Herzegovina without further questioning amounted to chain refoulement.