Engines in full reverse: migrants brought from Italy to Albania must return to Bari

Rome – The 12 migrants who received press honours for being the first to be confined in the Italian-built facility in Albania must return to Italy because their detention is illegal under European and, hence, Italian law. This was the ruling by the judges of the immigration section of the Court of Rome, even though the Territorial Commissions had already rejected their asylum claims.

The 12 asylum seekers from Egypt and Bangladesh had been rescued on the night of Oct. 13 by the Guardia di Finanza (Finance Police) in international waters of the Italian Sar zone and then transported to Albania by a navy ship to be interned in the Giader detention centre. The Roman magistrates’ decision applies an Oct. 4 ruling by the European Court of Justice that states that for a country to be considered “safe”, it must be so in every part and for every person; Egypt and Bangladesh, (Countries to which migrants could be returned) to the ruling’s criteria, are not.

The President of the Chamber of the Court, Luciana Sangiovanni, wrote: “The detentions were not validated in the application of the principles, binding for national judges and for the administration itself, put forth by the recent ruling of the European Court of October 4, 2024, following the preliminary reference proposed by the judge of the Czech Republic. The refusal to validate the detentions in the Albanian facilities and areas equated to the Italian border or transit zones is due to the impossibility of recognizing as “safe countries” the states of origin of the detained persons, with the consequence of the inapplicability of the border procedure and, as provided by the Protocol, the transfer outside the Albanian territory of the migrant persons, who are therefore entitled to be brought to Italy.”

The twelve people will, therefore, reportedly be boarded on a ferry from Shengjin to Bari. They will then have two weeks to appeal the rejection of their asylum application