Information Note on the Court’s case-law 9

August 1999

Farah v. Sweden (dec.) - 43218/98

Decision 24.8.1999 [Section I]

Article 8

Article 8-1

Respect for family life

Expulsion, for a determined period, of person convicted for drug offences from country where close family is: inadmissible

The applicant, a Tunisian national, married a Finnish citizen with whom he had already had a child. They moved to Sweden in 198 8. His first application for a residence permit was turned down, while his wife's was granted. As a result, he went back to Tunisia, where his wife and child later joined him for a month. They returned to Sweden later the same year after he had been grante d a temporary residence permit. In 1990, he eventually obtained a permanent residence permit. They had two more children in Sweden. In 1993, the applicant and his wife were remanded in custody on suspicion of being involved in a drug-related case. The appl icant was finally sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and his expulsion with a prohibition on return was ordered. The fact that his wife and children lived in Sweden was taken into consideration and the prohibition was accordingly limited to 10 years. Lea ve to appeal against this decision was refused. In June 1997 he was released on probation and expelled to Tunisia. His wife and children joined him there from June to August 1997. His further request for annulment of the expulsion order was rejected.

Inadm issible under Article 8: The interference was in accordance with law and pursued the legitimate aim of preventing disorder or crime. The prohibition on the applicant’s return to Sweden was to be effective only up to January 2004. Furthermore, his wife and children, who had already visited him in Tunisia in the past, joined him soon after his expulsion from Sweden for more than two months. Finally, having regard to the seriousness of his crime and his prison sentence for aggravated drug offences, the authori ties cannot be considered as having failed to strike a fair balance between the applicant’s right to respect for family life and the prevention of disorder and crime: manifestly ill-founded.

© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.

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