court ruling

• Italy
• Germany

A German court has decided that two African asylum seekers may not be returned to Italy where they had first sought protection, due to the hardship they would face there. It's not the first time that German courts have ruled against such forced returns within Europe.

• Syria
• United Kingdom

A judge in the UK has ordered a British far-right figurehead to pay £100,000 to a young Syrian national in a high-profile libel case. However, the claimant may never see much of the money as the defendant has stated that he is insolvent.

• Italy

A 25-year-old Nigerian man was sentenced to 19 years in prison by an Italian court for killing another Nigerian after a fight in the informal camp of Borgo Mezzanine, in the southern region of Puglia, in October 2020.

• Germany

Over 2.5 years after the start of the main trial about the abuse of asylum seekers in a reception center in western Germany, four men were dealt monetary fines. The case from 2014 in the small town of Burbach had triggered widespread outrage and forced regional governments to reassess the standards at such facilities.

• United Kingdom

The UK government acted unlawfully when it housed six asylum seekers at the Napier military barracks, a court ruled on Thursday. The facility failed to meet minimum standards, the judge found. The interior ministry said the barracks would continue to house asylum seekers.

• Italy

The far-right politician had faced allegations of kidnapping after refusing to let a group of migrants disembark from a ship. But his legal battles are not over yet.

• Germany

A German court has ruled that a monk's action in a case of church asylum was protected by the freedom of faith and conscience laid out in the German constitution. The monk in Bavaria had provided refuge to a man born in the Gaza Strip.

• Italy
• France

A French court has acquitted Cédric Herrou, who helped thousands of migrants at the border with Italy. The farmer from the country's southeast has become a symbol of help for undocumented migrants.

• Italy

A court in Milan ruled in favor of a Tunisian asylum seeker this week. He should have been allowed to keep his cell phone at a repatriation center, the judges found.

• Greece

Two Afghan youths have been sentenced to five years in prison each. A juvenile court on Lesbos found them guilty of starting the fire that destroyed the Moria refugee camp in September last year.

• Nigeria
• Italy

The Italian Court of Cassation on March 5 upheld an appeal filed by a young Nigerian woman who had fled her homeland after being pressured by a relative to marry someone she did not want to. The court ruled that women migrants fleeing "forced marriages" can be granted a form of protection to enable them to remain in Italy.

• Italy

Italy's highest court has ruled that a migrant mother of twins must be granted humanitarian protection status. The court said the children increased her vulnerability.