Published on 11 April 2022

FIRST SECTION

Application no. 17695/18 R.D. against Hungary lodged on 28 March 2018 communicated on 25 March 2022

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the removal of the applicant, who is an Afghan national, from Hungary, on 28 September 2017. He was removed together with several other migrants after allegedly being subjected to dog attacks and beatings inflicted by or in the presence of Hungarian officers executing the removal. It would appear that his removal was based on the Hungarian State Borders Act, which authorised the Hungarian police to apprehend and “escort” foreign nationals staying illegally in Hungary to the external side of the Hungarian border fence (on the border with Serbia) without a decision. The applicant was subsequently living in Serbia without being able to have his asylum request registered. He was at that time seventeen years old and unaccompanied.

The applicant complains that he was part of a collective expulsion, in breach of Article 4 of Protocol No. 4 to the Convention. He also complains under Article 13 of the Convention in conjunction with Article 4 of Protocol No. 4 that he had no effective remedy at his disposal.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Was the applicant, an alien in the respondent State, expelled collectively, in breach of Article 4 of Protocol No. 4 to the Convention (see Shahzad v. Hungary , no. 12625/17, §§ 60-68, 8 July 2021)?

2. Did the applicant have at his disposal an effective domestic remedy for his above complaint, as required by Article 13 of the Convention (see Shahzad , cited above, §§ 77-79)?