An EU member State cannot send a foreigner back to their home country if they have already been granted refugee status elsewhere in the Union, the European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday.
Extradition requests must be denied unless the country that recognised the refugee status revokes or withdraws it, it explained.
The ruling came in response to a query from a regional court in Germany, which sought the ECJ’s interpretation on this aspect of EU law, following a Turkish demand for the extradition of a Kurdish man who left Turkey in 2010.
Italy granted the man refugee status in the same year due to fears of political persecution by Turkish authorities owing to his support for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). In 2019, he moved to Germany.
In 2020, a Turkish court issued an arrest warrant for the man, accusing him of committing wilful homicide in 2009. Consequently, he was arrested in Germany and jailed while awaiting extradition. Although a German court initially deemed the extradition possible, the man appealed against the decision. The extradition order was cancelled, and the regional higher court of Hamm turned to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling.
The Luxembourg-based court clarified on Tuesday that the individual’s refugee status awarded by Italy precludes any potential extradition.
Germany must now liaise with the Italian authorities, and only if Italy decides to revoke or withdraw his refugee status can an extradition be considered, the court ruled.
However, Germany must first ascertain whether the individual needs protection and ensure that there is no serious risk of the death penalty, torture or inhumane treatment were he to be extradited.
