The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) condemned Germany on Tuesday in connection with the deportation of an asylum seeker to Greece.
German authorities failed to ensure that a Syrian refugee received an appropriate asylum procedure in Greece after his deportation and was not subjected to ill-treatment, judges in Strasbourg ruled.
Germany must now pay €8,000 in damages. Greece was also ordered to pay a fine. The Greek government had violated the ban on inhuman treatment in the European Convention on Human Rights with its treatment of the Syrian man, the court said.
The complainant is a Syrian who first fled to Greece in 2018 and then traveled to Germany. On the day of his arrival in Germany, he was deported back to Greece under an EU agreement, although the man had indicated that he intended to seek asylum in Germany instead.
The man, born in 1993, was held at a police station in Greece for more than two months after being returned from Germany.
The Council of Europe, the umbrella organization to which the ECtHR belongs, has repeatedly criticized Greece in recent years for its treatment of migrants.
The latest report in July from the Council of Europe’s Committee against Torture and Inhuman Treatment demanded that Greece significantly improve conditions in refugee shelters.
The Council of Europe and the ECHR are independent of the EU and are committed to upholding human rights in 47 member states.