Prishtine, 30 March 2018- The Ombudsperson is deeply concerned with the situation created from the moment he obtained the information on apprehension of six Turkish citizens, who were legally residing in our country. Ongoing efforts have been made to ensure official information on their location and situation, the way how they have been arrested and the manner of their deportation to Turkey, but obtaining such information was not possible during yesterday and today’s morning.
Following the ongoing persistence of the Ombudsperson, the Kosovo Police (KP), actually the Directorate for Migration and Foreign National (DMF), today, on 30 March, 2018, at 14:00, has notified that DMF of KP, on 29 March 2018, has issued six writs for forced deportation of given citizens from the territory of the Republic of Kosovo to Turkey. Issuance of these force deportation orders was applied based on the Decisions of the Department for Citizenship, Asylum and Migration (DCAM) of MIA, which hold the date 23 March 2018, forwarded to the DMF on 28 March 2018. According to the KP’s announcement, the citizens were apprehended on 29 March 2018 and were accompanied to the Pristina International Airport at the same day, from where they have been deported to their country of origin.
During yesterday the Ombudsperson also contacted DCAM at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and requested to be informed whether the persons in question were briefly detained at the Detention Centre for foreigners but was informed that they were not brought there. While, during the day, from the same Department he has been notified on the fact that there were Decisions for the revocation of the residence permit for each person separately and copies of these Decisions were forwarded to him.
Given the sensitivity and complexity of the case and the confusion of the authorities over responsibility line, the Ombudsperson has decided to initiate Ex officio case, to investigate thoroughly actions undertaken by public authorities.
However, at this phase, the Ombudsperson claims that actions undertaken by public authorities are opposite with the international standards on human rights and fundamental freedoms, applicable in the national legal system of the Republic of Kosovo.
The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols explicitly stipulates procedural guarantees regarding the deportation of foreign citizens. Within the meaning of Article 3, Article 6, Article 8 and Article 13 of the ECHR, the same as well as the Basic Non-Refoulement Principle under the Refugee Convention of 1951, the responsibility rests with the competent state authorities regarding the situation created. Supremely, the guarantees of Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment) and Article 6 (right to a fair and regular trial) of the ECHR in democratic societies cannot be derogated even in extraordinary circumstances.