The case concerned the detention of a mother and her three children after a Dublin transfer from Germany to Poland, from 5 September 2017. On 6 September 2017, the Polish authorities started procedures to expel the applicants from the territory and a district tribunal ordered their detention in a foreigners centre. Their detention was prolonged several times.

The ECtHR found a violation of Article 5(1) of the European Convention with regard to the children and of Article 5(4) of the European Convention with regard to all applicants. The court noted that in light of the length of detention for the children, the measure was not of last resort and there was a lack of due diligence to limit the detention to the strict minimum.

The court also noted that the applicants were only orally informed about the Border Guard’s applications for extension of the detention measure so that in these circumstances the legal basis and the reasons for detention were not sufficiently explained to the applicants, who did not have a fair opportunity to challenge the legality of detention before a court.