The detention of Syros for 16 months without being able to be deported after he was arrested because he was on a list of people involved in terrorist acts, was the reason why the Supreme Court ordered his immediate release.
Neither the closure of airports nor the fact that he could not be deported to his country due to the war were enough to justify his further detention, with the court ruling that the Republic should find solutions, perhaps even the European Union.
The applicant is Syros and succeeded in entering the free areas of the Republic through occupied on 27/2/2019. The next day he applied for political asylum. However, a search of the databases of both another country cooperating with the Republic and Interpol revealed evidence of his involvement in terrorist acts, resulting in the issuance of a detention order for reasons of national security.
Also, his application for political asylum was rejected, which is why he is being held for deportation purposes. His lawyer had argued that the applicant's continued detention was contrary to the provisions of Article 9F (4) (a) which provides that detention should be kept as short as possible and continued detention for reasons of national security, without serving a specific purpose, is illegal.
It was argued by the Legal Service that the continuation of the detention is necessary and justified until the efforts to find a country of deportation of the applicant are completed. This is because his country is at war and the additional delay in the administrative process for deportation of the applicant is due to the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in the closure of the airport.
The court ruled that this was a prolonged detention with the only substantive explanation being that the applicant's country was at war and that the defendants had so far been unable to find a place of deportation.
"I understand the seriousness of the problem, but the reasons for the deportation delay can not be attributed to the applicant and given that the detention is not an end in itself but is done for the purpose of deportation, the problem can not justify an indefinite extension of the applicant's detention until until a place of deportation is found. It is therefore up to the competent authorities of the Republic - and possibly the competent bodies of the European Union - to find a solution to the serious problem that arises in cases such as that of the applicant ".
Source: Philenews