CEDH · CASELAW;CLIN;ENG — 11 janvier 2007

.s3ABFC313 { font-size:10pt } .sEB86A30B { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:14pt; page-break-after:avoid } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sA241FE93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:18pt; text-align:justify; page-break-after:avoid; border-bottom:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .s2EF62ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:12pt } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s8F2B0B1B { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12pt } .s9FF10068 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s5F48796F { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } .s5CB9E8AB { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify; border-bottom:1pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .sDF790F1E { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 93 January 2007 Musa and Others v. Bulgaria - 61259/00 Judgment 11.1.2007 [Section V] Article 8 Article 8-1 Respect for family life Respect for private life Unlawful expulsion of applicant, preventing relationship with family and new-born child: violation   Article 13 Effective remedy No judicial review possible against an order withdrawing a residence permit on grounds of national security: violation   Facts : The applicant is a Jordanian national of Palestinian descent; his wife and their three daughters are Bulgarian nationals. The applicant arrived in Bulgaria to study and left the country on completion of his studies. He returned to Bulgaria, married there and obtained a permanent residence permit. He became director of a foundation, the role of which was to provide material assistance to Muslims in Bulgaria; at the same time, he was a shareholder in and director of a property company. The applicant was informed of an order withdrawing his permanent residence permit and requesting him to leave Bulgarian territory within ten days. The order had been adopted on the basis of the 1998 Act, which provided for the withdrawal of residence permits issued to individuals whose activities were such as to endanger the State's security or interests. The applicant was not informed of the factual grounds on which the order had been based and was informed that no appeal lay against it. The applicant submitted several appeals to the Ministry of Justice and the Interior, the General Prosecutor's Office and the Bulgarian President, seeking to have the order set aside; all were dismissed. He also applied to the district court, which declared his appeal inadmissible. The applicant was arrested and taken to a detention centre and was held there. He met his wife and children in Turkey and Jordan on several occasions. His wife gave birth to their third daughter. The applicants alleged that there had been a violation of their right to respect for their family and private life, and claimed that there was no effective remedy available under Bulgarian law enabling them to complain of this. Law : Article   8 – The Court had already held that an expulsion carried out in application of the 1998 Aliens Act did not meet the requirement of lawfulness on account of the absence of sufficient guarantees against arbitrariness; it had also considered that, where matters touching on fundamental human rights were concerned, the national legislation would run counter to the rule of law if, as in the present case, the margin of appreciation granted to the executive was unlimited. As the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court did not amend its case-law in this matter until 2003, the interference in the applicant's right to respect for his family life had not been “in accordance with the law”. Conclusion : violation (unanimously). Article   13 – At the relevant time, no judicial review was possible against an order withdrawing a residence permit on the grounds of national security. The Bulgarian courts applied this law until 8 May 2003, the date of the Supreme Administrative Court's judgment announcing a reversal of the case-law in this area. Conclusion : violation (unanimously). Article   41 – The judgment constituted in itself sufficient just satisfaction in respect of the non-pecuniary damage alleged by the applicants.   © Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court. Click here for the Case-Law Information Notes