SLOVAKIA must pay €15,000 in compensation to Mustafa Labsi, who was deported from Slovakia to Algeria in April 2010, rules the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg.
The main reason for the decision was Slovakia’s breach of a preliminary proruling by the ECHR advising Slovakia to not returnLabsi to Algeria, his home country, the Sme daily reported on May 16.
The court senate in Strasbourg did not accept Slovakia's reasons for deprting Labsi.
The government in 2010 said that it believed the Algerian government’s assurances that Labsi, who was accused of terrorism-related crimes, would not face torture if returned home.
“The ruling is important satisfaction also for other cases in the future, but in fact it cannot heal the impacts of the illegal deportation of Labsi to Algeria,” said Labsi’s lawyer, Marian Hrbáň, as quoted by Sme.
Labsi was detained by Slovak police after crossing into Slovakia in 2007.
He sought asylum several times, claiming that he could be tortured if he returned to Algeria because he was considered to be a terrorist by the Algerian authorities.
Though both Slovakia’s Supreme Court and the ECHR ruled that the government then headed by Prime Minister Robert Fico should not deport Labsi, he was sent to Algeria in April 2010.
