FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 14270/21
Bilal Ahmed HUSSEINI
against Denmark
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 21 November 2023 as a Committee composed of:
Tim Eicke, President,
Anja Seibert-Fohr,
Anne Louise Bormann, judges,
and Ilse Freiwirth, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 1 March 2021,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicant, Mr Bilal Ahmed Husseini, is an Afghan national, who was born in 1997. He entered Denmark when he was 3 months old. As an adult he was convicted and his expulsion from Denmark was ordered with a life-long ban on his return.
His complaint under Article 8 of the Convention about the expulsion order was communicated to the Danish Government (“the Government”) on 19 April 2022.
On 28 April and 23 August 2022, the Court sent letters to the applicant, published via E-transmission to his representative, but did not receive any response.
By a letter of 14 November 2022, the Government submitted that the applicant’s representative, Mr Rasmus Anberg, had died in March 2021, shortly after lodging the application, that his firm had been resolved the following day, and that no one else had taken over the case. The applicant had been deported to Afghanistan in July 2021. One month later, under a false identity, he had re-entered Denmark and requested asylum. In May 2022 the applicant was registered as a missing asylum seeker in Denmark. Subsequently, the Portuguese authorities informed the Danish authorities that the applicant had applied for asylum in Portugal in July 2022. Since August 2022, when the Danish authorities accepted a request by the Portuguese authorities to return the applicant to Denmark under Article 18 (1)(b) of Regulation (EU) no. 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 (the Dublin Regulation), the Danish authorities were never contacted again, and the applicant’s whereabouts are unknown.
The Government requested that the case be struck out of the Court’s list of cases.
THE LAW
The Court notes that since the case was communicated, now approximately two years and six months ago, the applicant has not, in person or via another representative, contacted the Court, or provided any means for the Court to contact him.
It reiterates that pursuant to Rule 47 § 7 of the Rules of Court applicants are under an obligation to inform the Court of any change of address and of all circumstances relevant to the application.
In the present case, it follows from the information available to the Court, that the applicant returned to Denmark in August 2021, one month after his expulsion and later, before July 2022, went to Portugal.
The Court sees no reason why the applicant has not tried to maintain contact with his representative (see, mutatis mutandis, V.M. and Others v. Belgium (dec.) [GC], no. 60125/11, §§ 36-41, 17 November 2016) which would have allowed him to find out that the latter had died in March 2021 and to appoint another representative or why he has not complied with the said obligation under Rule 47 § 7 of the Rules of Court.
In these circumstances, the Court considers that the applicant may be regarded as no longer wishing to pursue his application, within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the continued examination of the case.
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
Done in English and notified in writing on 14 December 2023.
Ilse Freiwirth Tim Eicke
Deputy Registrar President
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy