Published on 23 December 2024
 
 
FIFTH SECTION
Application no. 3132/24
A.B.F.
against Italy
lodged on 1 February 2024
communicated on 3 December 2024
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The applicant is a Tunisian asylum seeker who was hosted at the Centre of Repatriation of Trapani (CPR - Centro di Permanenza per i Rimpatri) since 16 November 2023.
On 7 February 2024, the Court applied an interim measure under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, indicating to the respondent Government “to immediately transfer the applicant to a hosting facility adequate to his needs and to adopt any other measure aimed at guaranteeing adequate hosting and living conditions in the Trapani’s CPR”. The measure was granted since the Government were not able to provide specific information concerning the applicant’s situation nor did they submit any information on the concrete operational measures taken in order to guarantee that the living conditions within the CPR were adequate to the needs of the people hosted therein. The Court further granted the application priority under Rule 41 of the Rules of Court. On the same day, the applicant was transferred to the CPR of Caltanissetta and, after the issuing of the provisional measure by the Court, the Trapani CPR has been temporarily closed for renovations.
According to the applicant, the CPR of Caltanissetta was also not adequate to his basic needs. The applicant remained in this Centre until 12 April 2024, when he was repatriated to Tunisia.
The applicant claims that both his stays at the Trapani’s and Caltanissetta’s CPRs were in breach of Article 3 of the Convention due to the inhuman and degrading conditions of the said Centres. He further alleges he has been detained at the Centres in violation of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention since November 2023.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1.  Has the applicant been subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention, during his retention at the Centre of Repatriation of Trapani and at the Centre of Repatriation of Caltanissetta, taking into account also his vulnerable situation of asylum seeker, having regard in particular to the material conditions of his detention (see M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece [GC], no. 30696/09, ECHR 2011; Tarakhel v. Switzerland [GC], no. 29217/12, ECHR 2014 (extracts) and N.H. and Others v. France, nos. 28820/13 and 2 others, § 162, 2 July 2020)?
 
2.  Was the applicant deprived of his liberty in breach of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention (see Khlaifia and Others v. Italy [GC], no. 16483/12, §§ 117 and 132-134, 15 December 2016 and J.A. and Others v. Italy, no. 21329/18, §§ 79-84, 30 March 2023)?