EU court rules Hungary not at fault for returning migrant to Serbia last summer

Brussels/Luxembourg, March 17 (MTI) – Asylum-seekers may be returned to a non-EU country considered as a “safe country” without consent from another member state, the European Court of Justice said in a ruling on Thursday.

Under the ruling, Hungary was not at fault for returning a Pakistani national to Serbia in August last year, after rejecting his asylum request. The man had entered Hungary from Serbia illegally and after submitting a request for asylum he travelled on to the Czech Republic, against rules that his permanent place of residence would have been Hungary, where the request was submitted. Accordingly, the Czech authorities asked Hungary to take back the asylum-seeker and Hungary complied.

The man re-submitted his request in Hungary, but Hungarian authorities rejected it without a probe, arguing that he can be returned to Serbia, which is a safe country. The man attacked the decision at an administrative and labour court in Debrecen, eastern Hungary, which turned to the Luxembourg-based EU court for an opinion on whether Hungary was within the law when it returned the asylum-seeker to Serbia without notifying the Czech Republic.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters