In Gahramanov v. Azerbaijan (application no. 26291/06), the Court considered that
the period during which the applicant had been compelled to stay at the airport had
not exceeded the time strictly necessary for fulfilling the relevant administrative
formalities in order to clarify his situation. Indeed, his detention had not lasted more
than a few hours and he had been allowed to leave the airport immediately after the
checks had been carried out. Therefore, the Court concluded that his detention had
not amounted to a deprivation of liberty within the meaning of Article 5 § 1 (right to
liberty and security).
In light of the above, though the plaintiff was detained, is there evidence to support
arbitrary detention? We think so. The said detention could not have been a necessary
means of obtaining the said passport. Once there a detention, the burden is on the
Defendant to establish that it was not arbitrary. The law presumes that it is unlawful
and arbitrary unless the contrary is proved. It is not lawful to detain a person for the
purpose of his showing his travel documents or to calm him down. In this
circumstances, the Plaintiff was leaving the Country after having passed through the
same border two days earlier, May be the position would have been different if he
was entering the Country; in which case it would have been reasonable to deny him
entry or detain him.
Unreasonably, detention for purposes of calming down or obtaining travel
documents is not within the purview of the ECOWAS Protocol on free movement.
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