Greek Council for Refugees files legal remedies for refugees subject to the recent amendment by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum on the suspension of asylum

Court's Press Release

Athens, 13/8/2025

The Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) submitted today Applications for Annulment and for Suspension, with a request for a temporary order, before the Administrative Court of First Instance of Athens representing refugees detained at the Amygdaleza Pre-Departure Detention Center (ΠΡO.K.E.K.A.) whose asylum applications the competent authorities refuse to registeron the grounds of the amendment on the suspension of asylum,introduced by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, which is, however, in direct contradiction to EU law and the international conventions binding the Greek authorities.

The applications concern Sudanese citizens who, after arriving in Crete from Libya, were transferred on July 20, 2025, to the Amygdaleza Pre-Departure Detention Center (PROKEKA). A return decision has been issued against them, and they remain in detention to this day, while the competent authorities have not received their asylum applications, invoking the amendment of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum (Article 79 of Law 5218/2025) on the suspension of asylum.

With the legal remedies pursued, he GCR calls on the Greek Courts to immediately restore legality by overturning the Administration's refusal to register the applicants' asylum applications and by providing them with protection from arbitrary removal from the country, as required by the principle of non-refoulement, a mandatory rule of international law which is binding on the Greek authorities.

It should be noted that the Right to Asylum is enshrined in international law and Union law without any option of derogation.The return of a third-country national to his/her country of origin or other country without being given access to the asylum procedure and/or without their claims being examined constitutes a violation, inter alia, of the European Convention on Human Rights, according to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. According to the Constitution of Greece [Article 28 (1)], these provisions prevail over any contrary provision of national law.