French minister vows to defy top court, ECHR on Uzbek’s expulsion

11 months ago 32

France’s interior minister Wednesday (13 December) vowed to do “everything” to prevent an Uzbek citizen returning to France despite top French and European courts ruling against his expulsion.

The man, who French authorities accuse of being a radical Islamist, was deported to Uzbekistan on 15 November.

Paris expelled him in defiance of the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, which ruled in March he risked danger in his home country if returned.

“I decided to send him back to his country, regardless of everyone’s decisions. We will do everything so that he cannot come back,” Gérald Darmanin told CNews.

The ECHR had issued an “interim measure”, an urgent ruling only handed down when it deems there is imminent risk of irreparable harm to a plaintiff.

The Council of State, France’s top administrative court, then said on 7 December the French government should assist the man to return from Uzbekistan in order to implement the ECHR ruling.

In June 2022, the ECHR issued an interim measure blocking the UK from removing asylum seekers to Rwanda, throwing the British government’s immigration policy into disarray.

A huge debate has ensued in the UK about whether London should pull out from the court, which implements the European Convention on Human Rights.

Darmanin, who argues he is acting to keep France safe in the wake of Islamist attacks, said he did not believe that the man, 39, faced a “serious personal risk” in Uzbekistan.

The ECHR in November also issued an interim measure blocking the expulsion from France of a man of Chechen origin to Russia, saying he faced risks of serious rights violations.

“The ECHR must understand that it is issuing rulings in a terrorist crisis situation which did not exist when its rules were drawn up,” Darmanin told the JDD newspaper.

After teacher Dominique Bernard was killed by an Islamist hailing from Russia’s northern Caucasus in mid-October, Darmanin vowed to defy ECHR rulings blocking expulsions, saying “protecting the French public is more important than these rules”.

The ECHR is part of the 46-member Council of Europe, which regards it as a court of last instance whose rulings members are obliged to implement.