The Administrative Court of Nice ordered the Prefect of Alpes-Maritimes yesterday morning to register the asylum applications of the individuals concerned and to issue them an asylum application file within 3 days starting from today, after establishing that the applicants must be regarded as having been “illegally prevented from submitting an asylum application in France.”
The judge rightly considers that “the administration causes a serious and manifestly illegal infringement of the fundamental freedom that constitutes the right to asylum.” This concerns the case of three Sudanese individuals arrested while they were heading to Nice to formalize their request.
This judgment concerns the case of three migrants, Bakhid A., Alhadi M., and Kamal B., who were being hosted by Cédric Herrou, a notable figure of the Roya Citoyenne advocacy association at the French-Italian border.
The judge notes that on August 21, 2017, the authorities were informed of the individuals’ intention to file an asylum application. The judge clearly mentions that these individuals, who were arrested at Breil-sur-Roya Station, were inside the French territory and not “at the border” even though they had transited through Italy.
The judge therefore confirms that “it is the responsibility of the Prefect of Alpes-Maritimes, who had been informed of their wish to seek asylum in France, to register their asylum application before implementing the state responsible determination” and that they had the right to remain in France until the end of this procedure, further asserting that these asylum seekers “could not be subject to a decision of refusal to enter France.”
The prefect “will comply with the authority of the final ruling in this case,” he announced in a statement, while specifying that “the term ‘condemned’ is used abusively.”
“This is not a condemnation of the prefect as a person; it is a decision by the prefect that is annulled,” added the prefecture.
