A new ruling from the Court of Rome has been released, finding in favour of an applicant who was subject to an illegal chain pushback from Italy, via Slovenia and Croatia, to Bosnia-Herzegovina. This important development was brought to the court by Italian legal association ASGI, and supported by the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN), who provided a first hand testimony from the applicant. The court found unequivocal evidence of violations of international law, and acknowledged the applicant’s right to enter Italy immediately, and to full and proper access to the asylum system.
Picture of the transit group close to Trieste, confirming they had been in Italy (Source:BVMN)
The pushback, which was recorded by BVMN member Fresh Response in Sarajevo, involved violations from all three EU member states who combined to eject the transit group into Bosnia-Herzegovina. In particular, the court found Italian authorities, who initiated the pushback, to have breached:
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- Access to asylum
- Obligations on Non-refoulement
- Application of detention
- Right to effective remedies
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You can read more about the ruling in the press release below:
BVMN is a network of watchdog organisations active in Greece and the Western Balkans including No Name Kitchen, Rigardu, Are You Syrious, Mobile Info Team, Disinfaux Collective, Josoor, ports Sarajevo, InfoKolpa, Centre for Peace Studies, Mare Liberum, Collective Aid and Fresh Response. If you have any questions related to this press release, or other reports published by the network, please contact us via the channels below: