The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled on Thursday that Switzerland had ‘wrongly exposed Tamil asylum seeker to torture’ in deporting him and his family back to Sri Lanka in 2013.
Stating that the deportation violated article three of the European Convention on Human Rights, the court ordered that €30,000 must be paid in compensation.
The man, his wife and two children were deported after the application filed in 2009 was rejected along with a subsequent appeal. The family was detained and questioned for over 13 hours on arrival in Colombo.
Whilst his wife and children were released, and later returned to Switzerland, the man was detained and only released two years later. Upon his release he requested a Swiss visa and travelled back to Switzerland.