BRUSSELS, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Belgium violated the European Convention on Human Rights with a deportation to Greece, a court ruled Friday.
The European Court of Human Rights found Belgium and Greece both violated the convention when an Afghan translator was deported to Athens, EUobserver reported. The court said the man warned Belgian authorities he faced degrading treatment in Greece and was not given the chance to appeal his deportation.
The deportation was allowed under what was known as the "Dublin regulation." But the man said he was kept for three days in a dirty lockup in Greece with 20 other detainees and then handed an asylum-seekers card and sent to live on the streets.
Belgian Immigration Minister Melchior Wathelet said his country stopped sending deportees to Greece in October. Several other European countries have made similar decisions.
"Greece effectively endangers the trust needed among member states to create a common asylum system," Wathelet said.
Almost 1,000 deportation cases are pending in Strasbourg, France, mostly involving Greece.
