The case concerned the detention of the applicant in a hotspot in Lampedusa and the poor conditions faced in the Early Reception and Aid Centre (Centro di Soccorso e Prima Accoglienza – CSPA). On 25 October 2019 the applicant was transferred to a reception centre in Agrigento and he filed an asylum request the same day which was rejected as manifestly unfounded and on 2 November 2019 an expulsion order was adopted along with a detention order issued by the Agrigento police commissioner for the applicant’s detention at the Caltanissetta Repatriation Detention Centre (CPR) for the time necessary to effect the applicant’s repatriation. The applicant challenged the measures, and the Agrigento Justice of the Peace revoked the order for the expulsion of the applicant from Italy due to procedural issues.

The court found a violation of Article 3 of the Convention on grounds that the applicant stayed in the hotspot at Lampedusa for eighteen days, from 8 October 2019 until 25 October 2019, in overcrowded conditions and poor hygienic conditions, and rejected the objections of the Government that the applicant lacked victim status.

The court also concluded to a violation of Article 5 §§ 1, 2 and 4 of the Convention in view of the lack of a clear and accessible legal basis for the applicant’s detention. The court noted that the authorities did not inform the applicant of the legal reasons for his deprivation of liberty or omitted to have provided him with sufficient information or enable him to challenge the grounds for his de facto detention before a court.