M.S.S. v. BELGIUM AND GREECE JUDGMENT
9
45. On 3 August 2009 he was sentenced by the Athens Criminal Court
to two months’ imprisonment, suspended for three years, for attempting to
leave the country with false papers.
46. On 4 August 2009 the Ministry of Public Order (now the Ministry
of Civil Protection) adopted an order stipulating that in application of
section 76 of Law no. 3386/2005 on the entry, residence and social
integration of third-country nationals in Greece, the applicant was the
subject of an administrative expulsion procedure. It further stipulated that
the applicant could be released as he was not suspected of intending to
abscond and was not a threat to public order.
47. On 18 December 2009 the applicant went to the Attica police
headquarters, where his “pink card” was renewed for six months. In a letter
on the same day, the police took note in writing that the applicant had
informed them that he had nowhere to live, and asked the Ministry of Health
and Social Solidarity to help find him a home.
48. On 20 January 2010 the decision to expel the applicant was
automatically revoked by the Greek authorities because the applicant had
made an application for asylum prior to his arrest.
49. In a letter dated 26 January 2010, the Ministry of Health and Social
Solidarity informed the State Legal Council that, because of strong demand,
the search for accommodation for the applicant had been delayed, but that
somewhere had been found; in the absence of an address where he could be
contacted, however, it had not been possible to inform the applicant.
50. On 18 June 2010 the applicant went to the Attica police
headquarters, where his “pink card” was renewed for six months.
51. On 21 June 2010 the applicant received a notice in Greek, which he
signed in the presence of an interpreter, inviting him to an interview at the
Attica police headquarters on 2 July 2010. The applicant did not attend the
interview.
52. Contacted by his counsel after the hearing before the Court, the
applicant informed him that the notice had been handed to him in Greek
when his “pink card” had been renewed and that the interpreter had made no
mention of any date for an interview.
53. In a text message to his counsel dated 1 September 2010, the
applicant informed him that he had once again attempted to leave Greece for
Italy, where he had heard that reception conditions were more decent and he
would not have to live on the street. He was stopped by the police in Patras
and taken to Salonika, then to the Turkish border for expulsion there. At the
last moment, the Greek police decided not to expel him, according to the
applicant because of the presence of the Turkish police.