Diallo was jailed for four long months – no trial, kept in isolation and subjected to beatings, electro-shocks and threats against his family. He still bears the scars from his torture – both physical and psychological.
To reach Greece and try to rebuild his life has shown remarkable resilience. He’s had to battle a hazardous, traumatic journey before facing an odyssey of bureaucracy and rejections.
Last year, more asylum claims were registered in Greece than ever before. However, funding for legal aid has collapsed. Diallo fell victim to this collapse. His asylum claim had already been rejected once before the lawyer who was supporting him lost his job due to lack of funding.
RLS steps in
Our lawyer, Anastasia, took on his case as a matter of urgency. Together, they:
- Remapped his experiences and journey – ensuring that they included the important details that the asylum service would be looking for
- Unearthed essential evidence – including medical reports and expert testimonies on the situation in Diallo’s home country
- Accompanied Diallo to his interview – as a reassuring presence and to make sure that he was asked the questions required. We then followed up with a detailed memo of supporting evidence so the authorities couldn’t miss anything important.
“My previous lawyer said, “I need to leave, but don’t worry I’ll give your case to a great lawyer, she’s the best”. I saw not that what he said was true, but more than that” – Diallo
The system said no again
In an often arbitrary system, even the clearest case and highest quality legal work can lead to a refusal. The authorities claimed that they couldn’t see a link between Diallo’s torture and his asylum claim.
This is where legal support goes far beyond the technical aspects of a case. This rejection would be devastating so we quickly arranged to meet Diallo. We explained the rejection and reassured him that we’d continue to fight alongside him.
An appeal
We set to work on Diallo’s appeal. An appeal is impossible without high quality legal support. It requires careful preparation of the written appeal, an appearance and support of the case in front of the Appeals Committee and considerable technical expertise. Even then, only 10% of appeals are successful. This might be his last chance.
Apart from preparing the appeal, we were also able to submit a memo with new evidence and information about his home country that hadn’t been available for our previous application, as well as case law to support our arguments. We accompanied Diallo to the Appeals Authority the day of the hearing and supported the case orally before the Committee.
Victory – and the start of a new life
The appeals committee finally recognised what had always been true – Diallo was a refugee and he needed international protection.
“I saw I had two missed calls from Anastasia. I asked myself, “what’s going on?” Then Anastasia sent a message – “you have a positive decision”. I was outside in 50 degrees… I couldn’t believe that it was true. The next day I went to the office, it was a pleasure to say thank you in person”
Diallo is able to start looking to the future. He’s working as a chef and finishing his studies at a cookery school in Athens. “I want to get more experience and work with a great chef. If there’s an opportunity to have my own restaurant, I’ll then be ready.”
