The EU’s top court has dismissed a case against European border agency Frontex, brought by a family of Syrian refugees who were sent out of Greece to Turkey in 2016.
Lawyers for the family had argued the EU agency should be held accountable for the refugees being deported without having the chance to apply for asylum.
“Since Frontex does not have the power to assess the merits of return decisions or applications for international protection, that EU agency cannot be held liable for any damage,” the Court ruled.
The Syrian family - a husband, wife and four small children - from the Kurdish town of Kobani arrived in Greece in October 2016.
Eleven days after arriving in Greece, their lawyers say the family was put on a plane to Turkey by Frontex and the Greek authorities “without having being able to apply for asylum and without an expulsion decision”.
In 2021, the family took their case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, in a lawsuit handled by human rights lawyers and supported by the Dutch Council for Refugees.
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