In accordance with Italian and international standards, as well as case law of the Court of Rome, only the Territorial Asylum Commission can determine whether a second asylum application based on new facts is admissible or not. A circular issued by the Ministry of the Interior, however, has allowed for the Police to decide upon the repatriation of vulnerable individuals prior to the deliberation of the competent Territorial Asylum Commission on the matter. For many, this entails expulsion and detention in pre-removal centres - facilities that too often have been under public fire due to systematic violations of the human rights of the individuals held there (the latest case was that of a detainee’s death in the centre of Gradisca d’Isonzo). In this article, the first in a series dedicated to alternatives to detention, lawyer Gennaro Santoro reports on some of the cases that have occured in recent months.
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