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An Estonian court has released from the expulsion center a Vietnamese national who had entered Estonia illegally and his asylum application has been accepted for consideration.
Vietnamese illegal released from expulsion center
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The Tallinn Administrative Court on Thursday released the Vietnamese citizen from the expulsion center where he had been staying since September 2012, a representative of the nonprofit Human Rights Center told BNS. Police kept extending the man's detention at the center every two months since September.
The human rights organization is of the opinion that holding an asylum-seeker in detention when there are no circumstances warranting it as listed in law, such as a threat to internal security, is unconstitutional. The center therefore applied for the man's release and also represented him in court.
"That's a major victory," head of the organization's refugee program Kristi Toodo said. In her words, the ruling may change future judicial practice concerning the accommodation of applicants for asylum in detention facilities instead of the reception center.
Toodo said the released Vietnamese national is a youngish man who will now go to the Illuka reception center. His application for asylum has been accepted for consideration.