A Pakistani national appealed before the Tribunal of Rome against the informal readmission carried out by the Italian police on the border between Italy and Slovenia, despite his willingness to apply for international protection.

He stated to have fled Pakistan, after having been  injured in a terrorist attack and to have a well-founded fear of being persecuted as member of the Pakistani army. The applicant claimed to have been subject to nine pushbacks by the Croatian and Slovenian authorities while trying to enter in Italy. Once entered in Italy, the applicant has been arrested by the Police that requested him to sign documents without any translation or explanation of the content.  

Moreover, the applicant has been readmitted by Italy to Slovenia without formal measures, even if he has manifested the intention to apply for international protection. He also argued to have been detained by the Slovenian police and rejected by the Croatian authorities in Bosnia by violent methods. Due to the degrading living conditions at the Bosnian camp, the applicant arrived in Italy for a second time and applied for international protection with recognition of refugee status in his favor on 21 December 2021.

The applicant claimed the violation of the right to asylum provided by Article 10 of the Italian Constitution, the violation of the non-refoulement principle guaranteed by Article 3 of the ECHR because he was exposed to pushbacks, systemic violence by local authorities in Croatia and degrading reception conditions in Bosnia.

The Italian authorities argued  that according to the Return Directive the legality of informal readmission of foreign nationals to the Member State from which they entered once identified in the border where this is provided by an agreement signed on 1996 between States concerned.

The Tribunal of Rome upheld the appeal for the following considerations. First, in the documentation attached to the appeal, it was noted that the Italian authorities were aware of the applicant’s intention to apply for international protection and that the informal readmission to Slovenia has exposed him  to degrading living conditions. The Tribunal reiterated that the informal readmission procedure is not legitimate, namely it mentioned to be against Article 24 of the Italian Constitution, Article 13 and 47 of the EU  Charter. The Tribunal of Rome also referred to the CJEU judgement in C.K. and Others v Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija), Case C-578/16 PPU, 16 February 2017 and in Abubacarr Jawo v Bundesrepublik Deutschland, C‑163/17, 19 March 2019, mentioning the rich jurisprudence from the CJEU and the ECtHR on chain pushbacks. The tribunal also mentioned the EASO Asylum Report 2020 and other information available on illegal pushbacks and degrading reception conditions in Slovenia. The tribunal stated that  Article 3 of the  Dublin III Regulation enshrined in Article 19 of Legislative Decree 286/1998 the responsibility of the Member Sate ordering the transfer to another country to verify whether there are serious grounds to believe that there are systemic deficiencies in the asylum and reception conditions.

Consequently, in light of the abovementioned  the Tribunal of Rome declared illegitimate the pushback of the applicant in Slovenia, that exposed the applicant to degrading living conditions and violated his right to access to asylum procedure. The tribunal awarded EUR 18,200 as compensation for the damage.

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