Lives rejected. And in an inhuman way. This the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECDU) in Strasbourg on the Hirsi case, concerning the refoulement of over 200 immigrants on the Libyan coast. Italy was ordered to pay a compensation of (only) 15 thousand euros, plus expenses for 22 of the 24 victims, for violating Article 3 of the European Convention on Degrading Treatment and Torture. The value is not so high because the task of the ECtHR is rather to give a symbolic warning. And she succeeded.
The Hirsi case concerns the pushbacks to Libya of approx 200 people of Somali and Eritrean nationality. It was 6 May 2009 and the migrants, intercepted on a boat south of Lampedusa, were transferred to Italian ships and taken back to Tripoli against their will. They were neither listened to, nor identified, nor informed of their destination. Of the more than 200 migrants, only 24 people have been traced by the Italian Council for Refugees (Cir) and, together with the lawyers Anton Giulio Lana and Andrea Saccucci, have decided to appeal to the ECtHR.
And today they got their revenge. The Court ruled that Italy violated the ban on collective expulsions, as well as the effective right for victims to appeal to Italian courts. And for this he will have to pay compensation of 15 thousand euros plus expenses to 22 of the 24 victims, as two appeals have not been judged admissible.
It is the most important sentence of the Strasbourg Court with regard to Italian pushbacks to Libya, after the signing of the bilateral agreements and the Italian-Libyan friendship treaty.
