CAT/C/57/D/598/2014
searched and had to deposit all their belongings, including their mobile phones. After this,
with the help of an interpreter, migrants went through an identification procedure and their
fingerprints were taken. The migrants were issued an identification card with their photo
and personal details. In the Centre, they received clothing and hygiene kits. People
accommodated in the Centre were grouped according to gender and age, and the
complainant was placed in a pavilion with citizens of Tunisia and Algeria.
2.2
In the Centre, the complainant shared a room with 40 people. They slept on bare
mattresses with no pillows. There was not a sufficient amount of food and beverages, and
migrants had to queue for long periods for their meals. They ate on the floor in the absence
of tables. Hygiene in the Centre was appalling, with only a few open-space showers for all
of the inhabitants.
2.3
According to the complainant, no information was provided to him on his legal
status, nor was legal advice offered to him during his reception at and stay in the Centre.
Neither was he able to contact an official. The only people with whom he was able to
establish contact were local volunteers coming to the gate of the Centre to enquire whether
anything was needed.
2.4
On 20 September 2011, inhabitants of the Centre committed arson. After the fire
brigades arrived and the gate was opened, approximately 1,100 persons escaped. They
gathered at a gas station close to the harbour and spent the night there. The next day, the
mayor of Lampedusa encouraged the migrants to gather at the harbour and promised them
food, water and a transfer to a different centre. On 22 September 2011, approximately 500
migrants, the complainant among them, were taken back to the same centre and placed in a
big tent. No water or food was distributed at that time. Regrouped, they were taken to the
airport and, on 23 September 2011, they were transferred to Palermo and placed on ships in
the harbour. The complainant was placed on a Moby Lines ship, where he spent two days.
On the ship, all migrants were placed in one big room, with no access to fresh air. They had
to sleep on the floor in the same room. They could use the lavatories only when escorted.
They were provided with food and water.
2.5
On 26 September 2011, the complainant, together with other migrants, was taken to
Palermo harbour to meet the consul of Tunisia for identification. Subsequently, the
migrants were handcuffed, escorted by two police officers to an aircraft and taken to Tunis,
where the complainant was released.
2.6
The complainant claims that he was detained without an administrative order and
without the possibility of judicial review of his detention, and that he was deprived of the
opportunity to contact the competent authorities and thus to exhaust domestic remedies.
The complaint
3.1
The complainant claims that Italy violated article 1 of the Convention, having
infringed his personal freedom by detaining him on an unjustified basis. He claims that his
detention was not authorized by any judicial order, that he was never informed in a
language that he understood about the detention and the procedural steps he was subjected
to afterwards, and that he was not granted professional legal aid or access to a physician.
He claims that deprivation of personal freedom should be included in the definition of
“torture” under article 1 of the Convention.
3.2
He also alleges a violation by the State party of article 2 (2) of the Convention, on
the ground that the state of emergency declared by the authorities in Lampedusa owing to
the large influx of migrants in the spring of 2011 could not justify derogation from
prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.
2
GE.16-09656