Italian court rules outsourced migrant detentions in Albania illegal

A general view of a migrant processing center at the port of Shengjin, northwestern Albania Wednesday, 16 October 2024.

Twelve Bangladeshi and Egyptian men left Albania for Italy on Saturday after judges ruled against their detention in the non-EU nation under a controversial deal between Rome and Tirana. Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the administration would appeal the court's decision.

Italian judges ruled Friday against the detention of the first migrants sent for processing in Albania, dealing a major blow to a flagship policy of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government.

Rome has repeatedly said that said EU countries are interested in the scheme as a way of processing asylum requests in countries outside the bloc, and Brussels has been watching closely.

But just days after the plan went live, the first group of migrants sent to non-EU Albania were obliged to leave.

Sixteen men from Bangladesh and Egypt arrived at the Albanian port of Shengjin on Wednesday, nearly a year after an agreement to house asylum seekers in Italian-run centres in Albania until their cases are handled remotely by Italian judges.

However four of 16 were identified as "vulnerable" and were immediately sent back to Italy.

The remaining 12 on Saturday boarded an Italian coast guard vessel which will take them to Brindisi in southern Italy, Albanian port officials said.

Earlier, they were escorted by police from a temporary reception centre to Shengjin port, where they boarded the ship, a journalist from French news agency AFP saw.

From there, a determination will be made as to which individuals come from so-called "safe" countries, allowing for fast-track repatriation.


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