Cyprus on Tuesday received a slap on the wrist from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for its treatment of two asylum seekers who arrived on the island in 2019.
In two separate rulings, the government was ordered to pay a total of €12,000 to the asylum seekers, who had been arrested and detained shortly after their arrival in the Republic via the north on national security grounds.
The first applicant, known by his initials, BA, is a Syrian national who was born in 1996. He had been arrested shortly after his arrival in Cyprus as concerns were raised regarding his travel to an area under the control of the Islamic State and previous links of a family member to trafficking.
He was sent to the Menoyia detention centre and eventually released in 2021, and subsequently required to report to the police four times a week.
The second applicant, KA, is a Moroccan national who was born in 1966. He also arrived in Cyprus via the north in 2019, and his name had been flagged up by an international database as a “category B suspect”, suspected of involvement in “terrorism-related activities”.
He was also sent to the Menoyia detention centre and eventually released in 2020 when it was decided that he would reside at the Kofinou reception centre.
The ECHR decided that in both these cases, the Cypriot government had violated the applicants’ European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) Article 5 rights, both to their “liberty and security” and their right to a “speedy” court decision.
