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14/11/2019
ECHR rules that the Finnish authorities and courts failed to comply with their obligations under the Convention when dealing with the applicant’s father’s asylum application who was killed upon his (voluntary) return in Iraq

ECLI
ECLI:CE:ECHR:2019:1114JUD002524418
Input Provided By
EUAA IDS
Source
HUDOC
Other Source/Information:
ECHR Press Release
Referral to the CJEU
No
Original Documents
Type
Judgment
Relevant Legislative Provisions
European Convention on Human Rights;
Reference
Council of Europe, European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR], N.A. v Finland, Application no. 25244/18, ECLI:CE:ECHR:2019:1114JUD002524418, 14 November 2019. Link redirects to the English summary in the EUAA Case Law Database.
Permanent link to the case
https://caselaw.euaa.europa.eu/pages/viewcaselaw.aspx?CaseLawID=854
Case history
Related cases:
Abstract

According the ECHR's Press Release, in the case of N.A. v. Finland (application no. 25244/18) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:

a violation of Article 2 (right to life) and Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights owing to decisions to deport the applicant’s father to his country of origin, Iraq, where he was subsequently killed.

The Court found in particular that the Finnish authorities had not carried out a thorough enough assessment of the individual risks faced by the applicant’s father in Iraq although they had accepted his account of having faced two near deadly attacks in a context of tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslim groups, the father belonging to the latter. The Finnish authorities’ decision to expel the father, who had had a conflict with a Shia colleague in his place of work as an investigator for the Interior Ministry, had ultimately forced him to agree to return voluntarily to Iraq, where he had been shot and killed soon after arrival.

Following this judgment, on 23 April 2020, the Finnish Government requested the revision as the applicant had forged documents relating to her father's death and presented a false account of the events. The ECtHR allowed the request and annulled the judgment for abuse of right of petition on 13 July 2021.

Country of Decision
Council of Europe
Court Name
CoE: European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR]
Case Number
Application no. 25244/18
Date of Decision
14/11/2019
Country of Origin
Keywords
Assessment of Application
Country of Origin Information
First Instance determination
Iraq
Non-refoulement
Return/Removal/Deportation