Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 128
March 2010
Mutlag v. Germany - 40601/05
Judgment 25.3.2010 [Section V]
Article 8
Expulsion
Article 8-1
Respect for family life
Respect for private life
Deportation of long-term immigrant for particularly serious and violent offences: no violation
Facts – The applicant is a Jordanian national who was born in Germany in 1981, grew up and received all his education there and was granted a permanent residence permit. He was deported to Jordan in 2006 at the age of twenty-five, after committing a number of serious criminal offences and being sentenced to two years and eleven months’ imprisonment.
Law – Article 8: The imposition and enforcement of the order for the applicant’s deportation had constituted interference with his right to respect for his private and family life. The interference had been in accordance with the law and had pursued the legitimate aim of preventing disorder or crime. Referring to its Grand Chamber judgment in Maslov v. Austria, the Court reiterated that in the case of a settled migrant who had lawfully spent all or the majority of his childhood and youth in the host country, very strong reasons were required to justify expulsion. The applicant in the present case had received several sentences for serious offences involving considerable violence. He had, moreover, committed a series of offences at the age of nineteen while he was on probation and had been warned by the administrative authorities of the consequences of a further conviction. Furthermore, he had been nearly twenty-four years old when the order for his deportation had been upheld. In addition, he had lived all his life in Germany, and could speak and write German; however, although his main social, cultural and family ties were in Germany, the evidence produced by him did not show that he had developed social relations with anyone other than his family members and a therapist. With regard to his ties to Jordan, although opinions differed on the subject, it could not be maintained that he had no command of Arabic, his parents’ mother tongue. In conclusion, the seriousness of the offences committed by the applicant and their violent and repeated nature warranted the conclusion that the German authorities had put forward sufficiently strong reasons to justify his expulsion from German territory. Consequently, the order for his deportation had not been disproportionate to the legitimate aim pursued and had thus been necessary in a democratic society.
Conclusion: no violation (unanimously).
(See also Maslov v. Austria [GC], no. 1638/03, 23 June 2008, Information Note no. 109)
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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