Information Note on the Court’s case-law 210
August-September 2017
Z.A. and Others v. Russia (referral) - 61411/15, 61420/15, 61427/15 et al.
Judgment 28.3.2017 [Section III]
Article 5
Article 5-1
Deprivation of liberty
Asylum-seekers held for lengthy periods in airport transit zone: case referred to the Grand Chamber
Article 3
Degrading treatment
Inhuman treatment
Conditions in which asylum-seekers were held in airport transit zone: case referred to the Grand Chamber
The four applicants, who were asylum-seekers, were held in the international transit zone of Sheremetyevo Airport in Russia for periods ranging from five months to one year and ten months after being refused entry into Russia. They had to sleep on a mattress on the floor in the boarding area of the airport, which was constantly lit, crowded and noisy, and were sustained on emergency rations provided by the Russian office of UNHCR. There were no showers. In the Convention proceedings, they complained that they had been unlawfully deprived of their liberty (Article 5 § 1 of the Convention) and of the conditions in which they were held (Article 3).
In a judgment of 28 March 2017 (Information Note 205) a Chamber of the Court held by six votes to one that there had been a violation of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention. The applicants asylum seekers’ confinement for lengthy periods in the airport transit zone without being able to enter Russian territory or a State other than that which they had left amounted to a de facto deprivation of liberty for which there was no legal basis in Russian law. The Chamber also found, by six votes to one, a violation of Article 3 on account of the conditions the applicants were forced to endure in the transit zone over extended periods.
On 18 September 2017 the case was referred to the Grand Chamber at the Government’s request.
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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