A report from the UK
Human Rights Blog indicates that the European Court of Human Rights argued that
part of an individual's detention pending deportation violated the right to
liberty.
In its blog, it
published the full background of the case.
An applicant with the
initials 'VM', entered the United Kingdom illegally on November 18, 2003 with
her son. The applicant came from Nigeria. When an interim care order had her
charged of child cruelty, she pleaded guilty to avoid deportation to Nigeria.
Following her personal
bail, she was once again arrested in September 2007 due to possession of false
documentation with the intent to commit fraud. She was imprisoned for 9 months
and was convicted of child cruelty charges in 2008 of April.
She was in detention
for the rest of her sentence from August 2008. Pending deportation, she lodged
a judicial review claim to review the lawfulness of her continuing detention.
Hearings took place from July to August 2010 with her claims dismissed.
Having granted
permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal, the Secretary of State conceded
that her detention was unlawful from August 2008 to April 2010.
Reaching the
Strasbourg Court, the violation was found as she was detained unlawfully
because the authorities had failed to consider if the relevant policies were
sufficient.
