The Helsinki Administrative Court blocked the expulsion of an Angolan man approximately 25 years of age. Under the court’s decision, the expulsion must not be implemented before the court has processed the man’s appeal against being sent back.
Processing such an appeal usually takes about a year.
The man says that at the age of 14 he was forced to serve as a child soldier in Angola. He also says that he had been tortured.
The Finnish Immigration Service decided already in 2004 to send him back. He appealed to the Helsinki Administrative court and to the Supreme Administrative court, which did not change the decision.
The man remained in hiding for several years, with the help of friends in Finland, until the police caught up with him in the spring.
After he was caught, the man filed a new asylum application, and told officials that he had been kidnapped at the age of 14 and forced to be a soldier. He says that he had not mentioned this before, because he was afraid to.
The Immigration Service found that the man’s story was contradictory, and issued a new expulsion decision.
He was taken to the Metsälä detention unit to await expulsion, but was released from there on Monday.
The youth organisations of th Left Alliance and the Green League both denounced the expulsion decision.
Left Alliance chairman Paavo Arhinmäki also said that the decision violates the principles of international protection.
