Asylum law

Recent court development: a case litigated by ELA resulted in granting interim protection to an Eritrean asylum seeker whose application for international protection had been rejected after the asylum authorities did not accept his claimed Eritrean nationality and instead assessed him as Ethiopian, ordering his return to Ethiopia. Issued on 28 September 2026, Decision ΝΔ286/2026 found that his removal could expose him to a risk to his life and safety, causing harm that would be difficult to remedy if his pending application for annulment succeeds. Since 2023, ELA has documented cases in which applicants declaring themselves to be Eritrean have been assigned an “estimated nationality” of Ethiopian by the Greek authorities. The decision is particularly significant, as it is the first of its kind issued by the Administrative Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki. It follows eight positive interim decisions issued by the Administrative Court of First Instance of Athens in 2024 and 2025 in similar cases supported by our organisation. Read our full statement for more on the decision and the practices documented by ELA.