French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has faced another setback, albeit not on the scale of the rejection of his immigration bill by the Assemblée Nationale on Monday, December 11. In a ruling on Thursday, December 7, the Conseil d'Etat, France's top administrative court, rebuked the government for deporting an Uzbek national "in violation of a provisional measure prescribed by the European Court of Human Rights [ECHR]." This is a "serious and manifestly illegal violation of a fundamental freedom," said the court. It ordered the ministry to take "all necessary measures to allow M.A. to return to France." The blow to Darmanin shows the limits on his determination to expel foreigners he deems to be dangerous, even in disregard of the law.

M.A., 39, was deported on November 14, despite an ECHR ruling prohibiting the French authorities from doing so. Although M.A. committed no offense and had never been taken into police custody, he had been subject to an administrative ban from France territory since April 2021.

M.A. is suspected of being close to the jihadist movement, which he denies, and was under surveillance by the French state on the basis of those suspicions. His asylum application was definitively rejected in April 2022 over the fact he was deemed to pose a serious threat to public order. It was in this context that M.A. lodged an urgent appeal with the ECHR to prevent his expulsion, arguing that he risked being subjected to torture and degrading treatment in Uzbekistan in the event of arrest and detention.

The ECHR then ordered the French government not to deport him, pending its ruling on the risks involved.

'There's been a lot of excitement'

After the recent terror attack in Arras in northern France – the murder of a schoolteacher, Dominique Bernard, on October 13 by a radicalized young Chechen – Darmanin instructed prefects to screen all radicalized foreigners on French soil and initiate their deportation wherever possible. The case of M.A., undocumented and under house arrest, came up based on these orders. "It was a political decision," said a source at the ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity.

This is the first time that France has expelled a foreigner in contradiction with a ruling by the ECHR. When asked about the Conseil d'Etat's ruling, the Interior Ministry declined to comment. After arriving in Uzbekistan, M.A. was immediately taken into custody, according to his lawyer, Lucie Simon. "He is still in detention, and there are fears of sham proceedings against him," reported the lawyer, who noted that "for the moment, no means are being implemented to bring him back." She likened the Conseil d'Etat's decision to a "strong signal sent to the interior minister and a reminder of the fact that ECHR decisions are legally binding."

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