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Swedish court blocks Greek handling of asylum seeker case
Sep 6, 2010, 16:26 GMT
Stockholm - Five asylum seekers should be allowed to have their cases heard in Sweden rather than being transferred to Greece under joint European Union rules, a Swedish court said Monday.
The two women and their three children had first arrived in Greece, but then made their way to Sweden. Further details on their case were not immediately available.
The Administrative Court in Malmo, southern Sweden, justified its decision by citing 'deficiencies' in the Greek asylum process and the risk that the asylum seekers would not receive a fair hearing.
Greece has been criticized by some human rights groups for its treatment of migrants.
Under EU rules in the so-called Dublin Procedure, asylum applications are to be handled in the first EU country a refugee arrives in. The principle aims at preventing asylum seekers from being sent back and forth between EU countries.
But Malmo judge Martin Altenhammar told Swedish radio news that 'the deficiencies in the Greek handling of asylum applications are so great that the applicants risk not getting a fair hearing.'
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