The appellant faced deportation even though her stateless status was de facto recognised. For this reason, the appellant requested that the Justice of Peace’s decision be overturned, and for her stateless status to be recognised. The Supreme Court recognised the applicant’s stateless status and overruled the Justice of Peace’s decision.
Article 1 of the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention)
Art. 15, par. 4 Directive 2008/115/CE on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally residing third country nationals
The applicant has Macedonian origin and has lived in Italy for more than 20 years. She was residing in a legally registered house under her husband’s name, with their five sons (four under 18). She was subjected to an expulsion decree and subsequently detained in a centre for identification and expulsion (C.I.E). Her de facto stateless status was acknowledged in the expulsion decree and was at odds with the possibility of repatriation. The applicant’s stateless status was not taken into consideration by the Justice of Peace’s decision. For this reason, the applicant lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The applicant argued that the Justice of Peace’s incorrectly applied art. 15 of the Directive 2008/115/CE. Consequently, according to art. 360 of the Code of Civil Procedure n. 3 the applicant filed an appeal to the Supreme Court on the ground that there had been a violation or wrongful application of the law.
The Government’s State Attorney did not appear in front of the court.
Due to the fact that the Italian administration did not appear in front of the court, the Supreme Court directly recognised the de facto stateless status of the applicant. Accordingly, the Court found a violation of art. 15 par. 4 of Directive 2008/115/CE, stating that the purported removal was unreasonable. The Supreme Court held that the Justice of Peace did not take into consideration the applicant’s de facto stateless status when granting a decision.
For these reasons, the court ordered the Italian administration to pay a fee and revoked the expulsion decree on the basis of insufficient legal justification.
The Government’s State Attorney did not appear in front of the court.