FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 15950/08
Bakary JASSEY
against Austria
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 18 December 2012 as a Committee composed of:
Anatoly Kovler, President,
Elisabeth Steiner,
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska, judges,
and André Wampach, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 20 March 2008,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicant, Mr Bakary Jassey, is a Gambian national, who was born in 1973 and lives in Vienna. He was represented before the Court by Mr. W. Embacher, a lawyer practising in Vienna.
The Austrian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ambassador H. Tichy, Head of the International Law Department at the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs.
The applicant came to Austria for the first time in 1997. However, his first asylum request was dismissed in the same year. In 2000, the applicant married an Austrian national. The couple have two children together, born in 1999 and 2002 respectively. In January 2003, the applicant was granted indefinite leave to remain in Austria.
The applicant was convicted twice for offences under the Drug Offences Act. Thereupon, the Vienna Aliens Police issued an exclusion order of unlimited duration in respect to the applicant. In April 2006, the applicant was supposed to be expelled to Gambia. However, he resisted the boarding of the airplane and thus thwarted the expulsion attempt. On the way back to the city of Vienna, the accompanying police officers brought the applicant to an empty storage hall and mistreated him severely. The applicant suffered serious injuries and a post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the ill‑treatment. In August 2006, the police officers were convicted of ill‑treatment of a prisoner and sentenced to eight months’ and six months’ imprisonment respectively, suspended on probation for three years.
In the same year, the applicant lodged a motion to have the exclusion order of unlimited duration set aside, which was finally dismissed by the Constitutional Court on 27 February 2007 and by the Administrative Court on 6 September 2007, respectively. The lastly mentioned decision was served on the applicant on 28 September 2007.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complained under Article 3 of the Convention that in the event of an expulsion to Gambia he would no longer have access to necessary medical and psychological care that he needed for the treatment of the trauma suffered as a result of the ill-treatment by the police officers in April 2006.
Under Article 8 of the Convention the applicant further complained that an expulsion to Gambia would violate his right to respect for his private and family life.
THE LAW
The Court takes note of the observations received from the parties informing it that on 13 July 2012 the Vienna Public Security Authority lifted the exclusion order of unlimited duration in respect to the applicant. Consequently, the applicant’s indefinite leave to remain in Austria took effect again. The applicant therefore informed the Court that the subject matter of the application was resolved.
In the light of the foregoing, and in the absence of any special circumstances regarding respect for the rights guaranteed by the Convention or its Protocols, the Court, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (b) of the Convention, considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application.
Accordingly, the case should be struck out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
André WampachAnatoly Kovler
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy