Decision No. 499/2003 of the Committee of Injunctions of the Council of State

Summary of facts: The Committee set up by virtue of art. 3 para. 5 of P.D. 61/1999 (Asylum Appeals Board) espoused the relevant claim by Mr. Ô.Á. asylum applicant from Sudan, and advised, by majority, in favor of the applicant's request to be recognized as a refugee, considering that he fulfills the conditions of article 1 Á 2 of the 1951 Geneva Convention. In particular, it accepted that the applicant was «a bank clerk, originating from the region of Darfour, where the government settled Arab tribes in order to control the border», that "the applicant belonged to an armed, African, group which clashed with another armed, Arab, group" and that «two members of the group to which the applicant belonged were murdered inside their houses». The Minister of Public Order rejected, though, Mr. T.A.' s application, against the above-mentioned opinion, reasoning his decision as follows: «no evidence demonstrates that the applicant suffered or is in danger of suffering individual persecution by the authorities of his country for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. It is obvious that he left his country for economic reasons and uses the asylum application in order to facilitate his staying in Greece and to find a job in order to improve his living conditions». Mr. T.A. applied to the Council of State and requested to annul the negative decision and to receive provisional judicial protection.

Reasoning and decision: The Injunctions' Committee considered that the Ministerial decision under review, which rejected Mr. T.A.' s asylum application, constitutes an administrative act with negative content and its execution cannot, thus, be suspended. Given though the facts admitted by the Appeals' Board in its formulated opinion (whose accuracy was disputed by the Minister of Public Order, without specific reasoning) the Injunctions Committee considers that any measure taken, on the grounds of the decision under review, to deport the applicant from Greece and to return him to Sudan would cause irremediable damage to this latter, in case his pending application to annul the said act succeeded, because it would have put his freedom and security in danger. Furthermore, even if it were possible to return the applicant to a third country (it should be noted, in this context, that the applicant does not hold any passport or other travel document), such action would interrupt the applicant's material links with Greece which, as it appears from his file, he has established since more than four years; indeed, the applicant is employed in the private sector, contributes to the I.K.A. Social Security Fund and submits his tax declarations.

By applying article 59 para. 8 of P.D. 18/1989, as replaced by article 36 of L. 2721/1999, and by application of article 2 para. 7 of P.D. 61/1999 which stipulates that persons who have applied for international protection on the grounds of the 1951 Geneva Convention, are given the relevant special document which allows beneficiaries to work, in order to cover their immediate needs and, also, if they fulfill certain additional conditions, to receive free medical care, the Injunctions' Committee decides that the Administration should not proceed to the withholding of the asylum applicant's special card or, in case it had already taken it away, it should return it to the applicant, so that the applicant may return completely to the status under which he was before the ministerial decision under review rejected his application.

The Injunctions' Committee ordered the Administration to refrain, till a final decision on the said pending application to annul is issued by the Council of State, from any action taken exclusively on the grounds of the Ministerial decision, rejecting the applicant's asylum application, under review, which would result to the application having to forcibly leave Greece.