Transfer to Larnaca International Airport; (Read full CPT report)
40. Transport of detained foreign nationals on the airport for removal purposes is governed by Police Regulation 5/4 of 4 February 2021 “on the transport of convicts”. Amongst other things, the Regulation stipulates that, as a rule, handcuffs must be used, that escorting police officers shall not be armed and that they shall be of the same sex as the person they are accompanying. Further, the Regulation prescribes the use of strip searches at various moments during a transport and sets rules as to how these should be carried out. To the CPT it appears that in particular the obligatory nature of the use of handcuffs as prescribed by Police Regulation 5/4 may very well be in contradiction with the Aliens and Immigration Law, where in Article 18 B coercive measures are reserved for foreign nationals who resist removal. The practise as observed by the delegation during the transport to Larnaca International Airport was more lenient than prescribed by the Regulation. This is to be welcomed as it concerns foreign nationals administratively detained under Immigration legislation rather than persons who are serving a criminal sentence or suspected to have committed a crime. The CPT recommends that a specific rule be drafted on the transportation of foreign nationals due to be deported.
41. With the airplane to Kinshasa departing from Brussels on Tuesday 8 November at 11:00 and expected to make its stop over at Larnaca International Airport between 16:10 and 17:40 the same day,24 the five DRC nationals were individually collected from their rooms around 14:00 in order to
be escorted to the transport van waiting at the main entrance of the Menoyia Detention Centre.
42. Before the individual collection, the escorts met for a briefing. The escorting police officers were presented with the timetable of the return flight and reminded of their obligations and responsibilities. It was the second meeting of the escort team: an earlier briefing had taken place on Friday. The Cypriot authorities informed the delegation that it was during the Friday 4 November meeting that operational matters were discussed, including the individual risk assessment, and that it was decided that, in line with the Frontex Implementation Plan, Velcro type handcuffs were to be used on the five foreign nationals. None of these matters was addressed at the Tuesday 8 November meeting.
43. Immediately after the briefing, five teams of two escorts each proceeded to the accommodation Blocks to collect the five returnees: teams consisting of male police officers for the four male returnees and a team consisting of female officers for the female returnee.
44. Three of the five persons were escorted to the transport van without incident: they were allowed to say goodbye to their roommates, collected their luggage which they had packed the night before and were brought to the admission office on the ground floor. There, their stored valuables were returned. Subsequently, they were subjected to a pat-down search. The collection process for these three DRC nationals was smooth and expedient but for a minor disruption. As mentioned in paragraph 23 above, shortly before boarding, one of the persons had to repack her belongings from three into two suitcases. This misunderstanding had no noticeable impact; the woman remained calm and cooperative.
45. The collection of the two other DRC nationals was more problematic. In the case of one returnee, initial resistance was overcome after approximately 30 minutes when the Cypriot authorities accepted that he would return on voluntarily terms, with a financial compensation. The second returnee continued to resist his removal firmly as he was under the assumption that he was entitled to attend an appeal hearing about his rejected asylum request, scheduled for 18 November 2022. During approximately 45 minutes, the Head of Operation attempted to convince the man to cooperate. However, neither a phone call with his lawyer, who explained that an appeal procedure does not have a suspensive effect, nor a promise by the Cypriot authorities that he would be returned to Cyprus if his appeal would be successful, made him change his mind. He also refused a certain monetary amount he was offered if he would give up resistance. His mood swung between agitation and passive resignation. At some point, the man started to display signs of becoming physically unwell: twice he slipped on the ground, first from a chair and then from the wheelchair in which he had been placed, each time shaking and vomiting slime, and at times crying. He was cuffed behind the back with metal handcuffs twice. On both occasions the handcuffs were removed soon afterwards, and negotiations resumed. Eventually, due to the time pressure and apparent reluctance to apply force, the Cypriot authorities decided that he could remain in Cyprus, awaiting the hearing.
46. Later that day, at 15:50, he was brought to Larnaca Hospital to be examined at the Emergency Department. The hospital report states that a psychological test was performed and that psychiatric examination was recommended. The report neither mentions the presence of somatic health issues nor specifies the outcome of the psychological test. At 20:30, he returned to the Menoyia Centre.
47. The CPT found that the behaviour by the representatives of the Cypriot police towards the DRC national was calm and respectful throughout the event. In this respect, the CPT has more concerns with the intervention undertaken by the Centre’s nurse. Early in the negotiations, the Centre’s nurse came into the room and offered the person a sedative, which he refused. Later, the nurse re-entered the room with two syringes: one filled with a fully transparent, colourless liquid, the other with a yellowish transparent fluid. By exposing the buttock of the DCR national, he appeared to prepare for the injection of one or both of the substances. At that point, upon the nurse’s request, the CPT delegation, with the exception of the delegation’s doctor, retired from the room. The nurse took offence at the doctor remaining and asked him to leave, which he refused, explaining the role of the CPT. The nurse insisted and raised his voice against the delegation’s doctor. In order not to escalate the matter further and knowing that the room was under video surveillance, the delegation’s doctor decided to step back, prompting an intervention by the Head of Operation. He led the delegation’s doctor back into the room and explained the role of the CPT to the nurse. By now very upset, the nurse left the room, taking the two unused syringes with him. One day later, on 9 November 2022, the delegation asked the Centre’s doctor, who during the event had been present in the building but had remained in the nursery, about the purpose of the intervention. According to the doctor, both syringes had been filled with water, intended to create a placebo effect. As one of the syringes contained a yellowish transparent liquid, the delegation believed that the doctor might have been mistaken. An enquiry in the Centre itself led the delegation to believe that the yellowish transparent liquid in one of the syringes was most likely Diazepam, asedative.
48. The intervention by the nurse raises various questions:
First, what was the aim of the intervention, particularly given the fact that chemical restraints are not allowed in the context of a removal?
Secondly, if instead there was a necessity to intervene medically, how was this medical necessity established, as neither the doctor nor the nurse had examined the person concerned?
Thirdly, if the forcible administration of medication was indeed considered a medical
necessity, for what reason was it not ultimately given? The CPT invites the Cypriot authorities to provide an explanation as to the intervention by the nurse, taking into account the questions above. Further, the CPT would like to receive an explanation as to the role of the Centre’s doctor in overseeing the above medical intervention.
49. The transport van with four DRC nationals left the Menoyia Centre around 15:30, arriving at
the airport at approximately 15:55. In the van, the foreign nationals were divided over two compartments: the woman was seated in the front compartment and separated by a grill, the three
men were placed in the rear compartment. All passengers were secured with safety belts and none
of them was handcuffed. The escorting police officers followed in another car, as did the luggage
and an interpreter recruited by Frontex.
50. At the airport, a large party of police officers, including 10 forced return escort and support officers (FRESOs) from the Frontex standing corps from Bulgaria and France, awaited the four returnees, who descended from the van one by one, accompanied by two police escorts each. Then, with an escort on each side, holding an arm, each returnee together with their luggage was brought into the building. There, they were searched once again (pat-down search).
51. After a security check, performed by airport staff, the four DRC nationals were led onto a bus,
unrestrained, which brought them to the old airport building, then into a large waiting room with
chairs, where they received a snack and had their phones returned. If needed, they could use the
toilet. When at 16:25 the plane from Brussels landed at Larnaca International airport, the four returnees
boarded a bus, which brought them to the airplane. Then, one by one, with one police escort on
either side holding an arm, they boarded the plane through a group of police officers that returned
them to the Democratic Republic of Congo. 52. The delegation noted that certain escort officers made efforts to repeatedly engage in conversation with the persons for whom they had responsibility in order to decrease tensions or to reassure them. Unfortunately, this was not the case for all escorting officers. The CPT recommends that the Cypriot authorities promote the adoption of a dynamic security approach by all police escorts.
