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TURABAZ v. GREECE

Doc ref: 22417/93 • ECHR ID: 001-2429

Document date: December 7, 1994

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TURABAZ v. GREECE

Doc ref: 22417/93 • ECHR ID: 001-2429

Document date: December 7, 1994

Cited paragraphs only

Application No. 22417/93

by Saidajan TURABAZ

against Greece

The European Commission of Human Rights (Second Chamber) sitting

in private on 7 December 1994, the following members being present:

MM. S. TRECHSEL, President

H. DANELIUS

G. JÖRUNDSSON

J.-C. SOYER

H.G. SCHERMERS

Mrs. G.H. THUNE

MM. F. MARTINEZ

L. LOUCAIDES

J.-C. GEUS

M.A. NOWICKI

I. CABRAL BARRETO

J. MUCHA

D. SVÁBY

Mr. K. ROGGE, Secretary to the Chamber

Having regard to Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection

of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms;

Having regard to the application introduced on 4 March 1993 by

Saidajan TURABAZ against Greece and registered on 4 August 1993 under

file No. 22417/93;

Having regard to the report provided for in Rule 47 of the Rules

of Procedure of the Commission;

Having regard to :

- the report provided for in Rule 47 of the Rules of Procedure of

the Commission;

- the observations submitted by the respondent Government on 3 June

1994;

Having deliberated;

Decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant is an Afghan citizen born in 1960 and presently

residing in Canada.

The facts as they have been submitted by the parties can be

summarised as follows:

The applicant entered Greece illegally on 25 February 1991 coming

from Turkey. He lodged an application for asylum with the Police

Director of Orestiada.

The Government submit, on the one hand, that the applicant

invoked in support of his application his general opposition to the

regime in Afghanistan and declared that he did not belong to any

political party or organisation and that he was never prosecuted for

or convicted of anti-state activities.

The applicant claimed, on the other hand, before the Commission,

that he had been a member of the Afghan Revolutionists Patriotic

Organization. In 1980, when the Soviet army took over he was imprisoned

as a result of his political activities. In 1981 he escaped from

Afghanistan and found refuge in Pakistan. After a short stay in that

country he returned to Afghanistan and lived in a village which at that

time was not under the control of the Soviet army. In 1984 the Soviet

troops attacked the village and he was arrested and sentenced to 16

years' imprisonment. Some of his comrades were executed. Two years

later he was released on parole and escaped to Pakistan. While in

Pakistan he was persecuted by fundamentalist groups. On 25 June 1990

the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Peshawar

certified that the applicant was a refugee with security problems in

Pakistan.

On 18 June 1991 the applicant was recognised as a mandate refugee

by the Athens office of the UNHCR.

On 10 September 1991 the Secretary General of the Ministry of

Public Order refused to recognise the applicant as a refugee under

Article 1A of the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951. The applicant was

ordered to leave Greece within two months.

In October 1993, after having lodged the present application with

the Commission, the applicant left Greece for Canada, where he applied

for refugee status.

COMPLAINTS

The applicant complained that, since he had no residence permit

in Greece, he could at any time be arrested and returned to his country

of origin. He complained under Article 3 of the Convention that his

deportation to Afghanistan would amount to inhuman treatment, since it

would expose him to the risks of the civil war in Afghanistan and to

severe persecutions because of his political activities as a member of

the Afghan Revolutionists Patriotic Organization.

PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COMMISSION

The application was introduced on 4 March 1993 and registered on

4 August 1993.

On 2 March 1994 the Commission decided to communicate the

application to the respondent Government and to request them to submit

written observations on admissibility and merits.

The Government submitted their observations on 3 June 1994 after

one extension in the time-limit fixed for this purpose.

In the absence of information as to the applicant's present

address in Canada, a letter transmitting the Government's observations

and inviting the applicant to submit observations in reply before

3 August 1994 was sent to his former address in Greece. This letter

and a reminder of 12 October 1994 sent to the same address have

remained unanswered.

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

The Commission notes that the applicant has failed to indicate

his new address and that letters from the Secretariat to his former

address have remained unanswered.

The Commission concludes under Article 30 para. 1 (a) of the

Convention that the applicant no longer intends to pursue his petition.

It further considers that respect for Human Rights as defined in the

Convention does not require it to continue the examination of the

application.

For these reasons, the Commission, unanimously,

DECIDES TO STRIKE THE APPLICATION OUT OF THE LIST OF CASES.

Secretary to the Second Chamber President of the Second Chamber

(K. ROGGE) (S. TRECHSEL)

LEXI

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