CASE OF M.K. v. RUSSIA
No violation of Article 5 - Right to liberty and security (Article 5-1 - Lawful arrest or detention;Article 5-1-f - Expulsion;Article 5-4 - Review of lawfulness of detention)
Dmitry Dedov;Luis López Guerra
4. The applicant, a Syrian national, was born in 1993 and currently resides in Khartoum, Sudan. 5. On 24 April 2015 the applicant arrived in Russia, being in possession of a study visa. He enrolled in the Izhevsk State Technical University and had his registered residence in the town of Izhevsk. His visa expired on 26 April 2016. 6. On 4 May 2016 the applicant applied for refugee status alleging the risks to his life and safety in the light of the on-going conflict in Syria. The request and the subsequent appeals were dismissed by the Russian migration authorities and the courts. 7. On 8 June 2016 the applicant was arrested and put in detention by the migration authorities. 8. By a judgment of 9 June 2016 the Oktyabrskiy District Court of Izhevsk found the applicant in breach of migration rules, an offence under Article 18.8 § 1.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences, and ordered his expulsion. In order to facilitate enforcement, the court ordered that the applicant be placed in detention. 9. On 10 June 2016 the Supreme Court of the Udmurtiya Republic upheld the lower court’s judgment. 10. On 22 June 2016 the Court indicated to the respondent Government, under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, that the applicant should not be extradited, expelled or otherwise involuntarily removed from Russia to Syria for the duration of the proceedings before the Court. Since that date the enforcement of the applicant’s expulsion was monthly postponed by the domestic courts. 11. On 13 January 2017 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on appeal amended the lower courts’ judgments and excluded administrative removal from the sanction, since it would have exposed the applicant’s life to risk in Syria. 12. On 20 January 2017 the applicant left Russia for Lebanon.