Karimi & Associates Law Firm presents according to Jurist:
The Austrian Constitutional Court suspended the deportation proceedings of an unidentified Afghan national (“the Applicant”). After two failed asylum applications, the Applicant was scheduled for deportation and was in custody pending deportation since April. Earlier this month, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) instructed Austrian authorities to postpone the deportation of the Applicant as the “security situation” in the country deteriorates until the end of the month.
The ECHR also asked the Austrian government to clarify how it plans to proceed with the deportation concerning that the Afghanistan government informed European Union (EU) members that it will not accept such deported individuals until October 8.
The Constitutional Court stated that it failed to see how the Applicant can be deported back to Afghanistan in a timely manner given the current situation in Afghanistan and the legal limits on how long the government can hold a person in detention.
Thus, the court concluded that further detention of the Applicant is not warranted unless the government can show with certainty that deporting the Applicant back to Afghanistan within a reasonable time is possible.
Austrian president, Alexander Van der Bellen, welcomed the ruling and made a general statement on the situation in Afghanistan:
“The idea of continuing to deport Afghan citizens with a negative asylum decision from Austria to Afghanistan is not only out of place, but also contradicts the European Convention on Human Rights enshrined in the Austrian Constitution, which prohibits people from being sent back to a country where they face persecution, torture, and murder.”