M.S.S. v. BELGIUM AND GREECE JUDGMENT – SEPARATE OPINIONS 113 right of appeal against any expulsion decision and to seek interim measures from the Court under Rule 39. There was nothing in the materials before the Court which would suggest that “Dublin” returnees had been or might be prevented from applying for interim measures on account of the timing of their onward removal or for any other reason. (iv) Greece, as a Contracting State, had undertaken to abide by its Convention obligations and to secure to everyone within its jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined therein, including those guaranteed by Article 3: in concrete terms, Greece was required to make the right of any returnee to lodge an application with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention both practical and effective. In the absence of any proof to the contrary, it had to be presumed that Greece would comply with that obligation in respect of returnees, including the applicant. (v) While the objective information before the Court on conditions of detention in Greece was of serious concern, not least given Greece’s obligations under Council Directive 2003/9/EC and Article 3 of the Convention, should any claim arise from these conditions, it could and should be pursued first with the Greek domestic authorities and thereafter in an application to the Court. In consequence of the Court’s decision in K.R.S. v. the United Kingdom, the interim measures under Rule 39 which had been applied by the Court pending the decision in that case were lifted. 6. Whether or not, with the benefit of hindsight, the K.R.S. v. the United Kingdom case should be regarded as correctly decided by the Court, member States concerned with the removal of persons to Greece under the Dublin Regulation were, in my view, legitimately entitled to follow and apply the decision in the absence of any clear evidence of a change in the situation in Greece which had been the subject of examination by the Court or in the absence of special circumstances affecting the position of the particular applicant. It is apparent that the K.R.S. v. the United Kingdom case was applied by national authorities as a recent and authoritative decision on the compatibility with the Convention of returns to Greece, more particularly by the House of Lords in the case of Nasseri (cited above), in which judgment was delivered on 6 May 2009. The decision was also expressly relied on by the Aliens Office in Belgium in rejecting the present applicant’s request for asylum. 7. The majority of the Grand Chamber take the view that, as a result of developments before and since the K.R.S. v. the United Kingdom case, the presumption that the Greek authorities would respect their international obligations in asylum matters should have been treated as rebutted by the Belgian authorities in June 2009. It is noted in the judgment that numerous reports and materials have been added to the information which was available to the Court when it adopted its K.R.S. v. the United Kingdom decision, which agree as to the practical difficulties involved in the

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