ZAGREB, 5 April 2022 - The office of Croatia's representative before the European Court of Human Rights said on Tuesday that by dismissing Croatia's application for a re-examination of the judgment in the case of Afghan migrant girl Madina Hussiny, the ECHR did not find that Croatia was responsible for her death.
The ECHR clearly states in the judgment that Croatia breached the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms because it did not effectively investigate the death of the six-year-old, the office said, adding that if someone was responsible for her death and who will be established by national bodies while executing the judgment.
The actions and decisions of Croatian bodies can be examined by domestic courts, up to the Constitutional Court, the office said.
Furthermore, it added, the ECHR did not find that any pressure was exerted on anyone in civil society nor that their representatives were prevented from doing their job.
This judgment is individual and refers to one family, therefore the ECHR did not find that the problems established by the judgment are systemic, the office said.
Besides an ineffective investigation, the ECHR established a violation of the Convention due to the conditions in the accommodation of minors in the Tovarnik migrant centre, but not a violation of the Convention with regard to the adult asylum seekers staying there with the children.
The ECHR also established violations of the Convention due to the lengthy asylum procedures before administrative courts, the impossibility to effectively contest decisions which restricted applicants' free movement in Tovarnik, and the impossibility to establish undisturbed contact between applicants and their lawyer.
The ECHR found that the applicants, who tried to illegally enter Croatia on 21 November 2017, were expelled contrary to a collective expulsion ban.
Other EU member states such as Italy, Greece, Poland and France, faced with a big migrant influx, have similar cases before the ECHR, the Croatian representative's office said, adding that this is the final judgment and that it will be executed.
In the initial judgment of November 2021, the ECHR found that the investigation of Hussiny's death, who was hit by a train on the Croatia-Serbia border in November 2017, was ineffective, ordering Croatia to pay €40,000 in damages to her family and €16,700 in court costs.
