Asylum case for the Zogaj family
The deportation of from Kosovo originating Family Zogaj excited since 2007 large public and media furore and sparked heated debate on the right to asylum in Austria from. After more than 110 negative interim decisions, the Constitutional Court finally ruled in June 2010 that the expulsion was legally compliant.
prehistory
The Zogaj family consists of father Devat, mother Nurie and - in order of age - sons Alban and Alfred, daughter Arigona, son Albin and daughter Albona.
According to the weekly magazine News , Devat Zogaj is said to have sold his employer's truck in Kosovo for 7,000 German marks , thereby financing his illegal entry into Austria . In May 2001 he sought asylum in Austria. His asylum application was rejected in May 2002. In September 2002, his wife and five children also came into the country illegally with the help of escape helpers, who were paid around 8,000 euros, and in the same month applied for asylum extension for the entire family. In November 2002 the asylum application was given a negative decision in the second instance, and Devat Zogaj then submitted a second asylum application. This was rejected in February 2003 and the expulsion of Devat Zogaj was ordered.
In February 2003, Ms. Zogaj applied for a second asylum for herself and her children. The second asylum application and an asylum complaint were rejected by the Constitutional Court (VfGH) in December 2003 . In May 2004, the Zogaj family managed to postpone their expulsion through a further complaint to the Constitutional Court (VfGH), despite a confirmation of expulsion from the Upper Austrian Security Directorate. The Constitutional Court rejected the complaint in March 2005.
After the Vöcklabruck district administration asked the family to leave the country by May 10, 2005 in April 2005, the family submitted an application to the Vöcklabruck district administration for an initial settlement permit for humanitarian reasons. The humanitarian residence permit was rejected by the Ministry of the Interior in September 2005 and in May 2007 the family's appeal to a settlement permit was also rejected.
However, since Devat Zogaj had been in legal employment the whole time and the children also attended school or kindergarten, the Frankenburg community saw the family as integrated. In June 2007, the community and daughter Arigona’s schoolmates started a signature campaign against the deportation of the family. The local council decided unanimously to work for the family to stay. The United Nations Interim Administration ( UNMIK ) had approved the deportation of the family to Kosovo.
Deportation of the family and hiding of daughter Arigona
Interior Minister Günther Platter and Upper Austrian Governor Josef Pühringer negotiated a catalog of criteria for granting a humanitarian residence permit on September 26, 2007. The Zogaj family was picked up by the police to be deported. From that day on Arigona disappeared without a trace. Arigona's mother Nurie was allowed to stay in Austria to look for her daughter. Father Devat and the other four children in the family were flown to Kosovo. Interior Minister Günther Platter defended this decision (also against criticism from many media) as legitimate.
On September 30, 2007, a letter from Arigona emerged in which she threatened suicide and wrote that she would not face the police alive if her family were not allowed to return to Austria. About a week later, a video appeared in which, among other things, she repeated the threat. The Upper Austrian provincial government appealed on 1 October 2007 unanimously Interior Minister Guenther Platter, take the case again Zogaj and in view of the recently presented criteria for the right to stay to judge. Platter had agreed with Vice Chancellor Wilhelm Molterer to await the decision of the Constitutional Court . Arigona and her mother Nurie were allowed to stay in Austria for the time being.
Both in Frankenburg and in other Austrian cities there were subsequently demonstrations for Arigona and her family's right to stay and against the Austrian right to asylum in general. The Greens organized a demonstration of the right to stay in Vienna, which was attended by several thousand people. In Frankenburg it was disputed whether the demonstration was actually a sign of the Franconian civil society, or whether the demonstrators mainly came from outside. According to the initiator of the demonstration, the mood changed afterwards, rumors were spread and supporters of the family were harassed.
Arigonas reappeared
After two weeks, Arigona Zogaj was found by the pastor of Ungenach in the Vöcklabruck district , Josef Friedl (* December 8, 1943 in Münzkirchen ; Province of Upper Austria ; † October 23, 2018 in Vöcklabruck ), who gave her shelter. She was also looked after by him. On October 12, 2007, because of the great media interest in the case, the girl and the pastor held a press conference in the community, which was attended by dozens of media representatives, some of them from abroad. As a result, a public dispute broke out over the course of Arigona's reappearance, as Pastor Friedl said in several interviews that members of the ÖVP had asked to take her in. Said politicians deny this, and Friedl himself did not want to make a statement on this question later.
From October 16, 2007, Arigona Zogaj again attended the Polytechnic School in Vöcklamarkt . In 2008 she graduated from school. From September 8, 2008, Arigona Zogaj attended a college for business professions in Linz.
Further development
On December 14, 2007, the Constitutional Court dismissed the family's complaint against the denial of an initial residence permit. In the judgment, however, it was emphasized that Interior Minister Günther Platter can continue to grant a humanitarian right of residence . However, he did not do this, but announced to the public immediately after the negative finding of the Constitutional Court that Arigona Zogaj and her mother would be deported to Kosovo after the end of the school year in summer 2008. Arigona was thus able to complete her last year of compulsory school, the polytechnic course, in Austria.
The children who were deported to Kosovo with their father were abandoned by the latter and then lived there alone. A first attempt by the Upper Austrian Greens for an application by the provincial government for the right to stay remained in the minority. Mother Nurie tried to cut open her wrists in late May 2008 and was subsequently sent for psychiatric treatment. Due to this incident and a psychiatric report, mother and daughter Zogaj were allowed to stay in Austria for about half a year, but were not given the right to stay. A second attempt by the Greens to apply for the right to stay in the Upper Austrian provincial government remained in the minority. The political discussion moves between "humanitarian right to stay for the whole family" on the one hand and "family reunification with the abandoned underage children and medical treatment for the mother in Kosovo" on the other.
On December 23, 2008 it became known that Albin, Alfred, Alban and Albona had been brought from Kosovo by escape workers. You were picked up by the police in Hungary and applied for asylum in that country. On January 12, 2009, three of the four Arigona siblings entered Austria illegally. At the same time it became known that the asylum application regarding Arigona and her mother had been admitted. Austria's Interior Minister Maria Fekter has now checked whether the asylum applications of family members can be dealt with in Hungary on the basis of the Dublin Agreement . On February 3rd, 2009 it was published that the two older brothers want to leave Austria voluntarily. When leaving the country on the following Sunday, a brass knuckle was found on the elder , which falls under the Austrian Weapons Act and whose possession can be punished with up to one year in prison. On September 14, 2009, Alban and Alfred Zogaj were picked up again in Traiskirchen, whereupon they immediately applied for asylum. Immediately afterwards you were detained , but have now voluntarily left for Kosovo again.
On November 12, 2009, the Kronen Zeitung published that Arigona and her mother should now be deported for good. At this point in time, the family had just received the negative asylum notice, and they found out about it in the newspaper. Now the public prosecutor's office in Vienna and the office for internal affairs are investigating how the tabloid was able to find out about the negative asylum decision before the lawyer. Since this was the decision of the Federal Asylum Office (first instance), the family appealed. The expulsion therefore had no legal force - which also meant that the publication of the Kronen Zeitung amounted to a false report. On March 18, 2010, it was published in the Kurier that the Asylum Court had also ruled negative in the second instance because the judges are of the opinion that the mother's mental illness can also be treated in Kosovo. On April 9, 2010, the Zogaj family's deportation notice was suspended because the family's lawyer lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court. However, this was rejected on June 14, 2010 when the decision of the Asylum Court's deportation decision was not unconstitutional.
On June 22, 2010, Arigona Zogaj, her mother and her siblings received the notification with the written request for "immediate" departure by the Vöcklabruck district administration. Three days later, Volkshilfe announced that it had been agreed with the Vöcklabruck district administration that the voluntary departure of the family would not take place until after the end of school on July 9, 2010.
On July 15, 2010, Arigona Zogaj, together with her mother and her siblings Albin and Albona, finally left Austria on a flight from Salzburg via Vienna to Pristina , whereby the cost of the trip was paid for with support funds. The departure was postponed by three days from the original date due to media pressure on the family. The supervisor of the family from Volkshilfe announced that the family wanted to return to Austria legally with a student or seasonal visa. Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger announced that the Zogajs can hope for the support of the Austrian embassies in the event of a visa application.
In autumn, the mother and the three children applied for an entry visa, which was treated positively by the Vöcklabruck district administration in November , so that the family was allowed to enter the country again on November 24th. The mother received a temporary work permit, the children a student visa. The children's father, who is now divorced, and the two older sons have not applied for visas.
In February 2012, Arigona, who attended the last year of an HLWB , received a temporary residence permit which, after being extended five years later, will end in an unlimited one. Her mother received this in November 2011. In 2015, all of her brothers were back in Austria.
Others
Franzobel processed the deportation literarily in his book: Austria is beautiful. A fairy tale. ( Zsolnay , Vienna 2009. ISBN 978-3-552-05473-8 ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Salzburger Nachrichten : Asylum, Lügen und Video ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Retrieved June 10, 2010
- ↑ a b Finding of the Constitutional Court in the complaint of Arigona Zogaj U 614/10 of June 12, 2010 , accessed on May 3, 2018.
- ↑ ORF -Online News: Siblings are back in Austria ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Retrieved June 15, 2010
- ↑ News No. 45/2007: Statements from father were negative for asylum procedures
- ↑ a b c d ORF-Online: Causa Zogaj: The Chronology ( Memento from July 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Upper Austrian news of October 9, 2007: Father Zogaj had legal work
- ↑ Oberösterreichische Nachrichten of December 28, 2007: Arigona's flight and threat of suicide
- ↑ The visit of the young lady , republik.ch of February 23, 2018, accessed on September 26, 2019
- ^ Arigona supporter Pastor Friedl has died. In: ORF Upper Austria. ORF Upper Austria, October 25, 2018, accessed on October 25, 2018 .
- ^ Arigona supporter Pastor Friedl has died. (No longer available online.) In: nachrichten.at. nachricht.at, October 25, 2018, formerly in the original ; accessed on October 25, 2018 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Oberösterreichische Nachrichten of Feb. 20, 2008: Arigona and her brothers forgot to pay the driving school bill
- ^ Upper Austrian news of May 26, 2008: Arigona's mother wanted to cut her wrists
- ^ Die Presse .com: Arigona case: Failed entry of the siblings ; Retrieved June 15, 2010
- ↑ ORF online news: Siblings from Hungary fled to Austria ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Retrieved June 15, 2010
- ↑ Upper Austrian news from the 15th of Jan. 2009: The responsibility of the Zogajs
- ^ ORF-Online: Voluntary return to Kosovo ; Retrieved October 24, 2013
- ↑ ORF-Online: Zogaj brothers back in Kosovo ; Retrieved June 15, 2010
- ^ ORF-Online: Incident when the Zogaj brothers left ; Retrieved June 15, 2010
- ^ ORF-Online: Two Zogaj brothers in Lower Austria in custody ; Retrieved June 15, 2010
- ^ ORF-Online: Zogaj brothers voluntarily in Kosovo ; Retrieved June 15, 2010
- ^ ORF-Online: Negative asylum decision for the Zogaj family ; Retrieved June 15, 2010
- ↑ derStandard.at : "Krone" in the investigator's visor ; Retrieved June 15, 2010
- ↑ Courier : Arigona's application for asylum rejected ( Memento from March 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ ORF Online: Zogajs: rejected asylum on appeal ; Retrieved March 18, 2010
- ↑ ORF Online: Zogajs: departure after school ; Retrieved June 25, 2010
- ↑ ORF-Online: The Zogaj family departed ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Retrieved July 16, 2010
- ↑ The Zogaj family received a visa to return to ORF on November 22, 2010, accessed on October 24, 2013
- ^ The Zogaj family landed in Austria on ORF November 24, 2010, accessed on November 24, 2010
- ^ ORF-Online: Arigona Zogaj is allowed to stay in Austria ; Retrieved on Feb. 7, 2012
- ↑ Das neue Leben der Arigona Z. , oe24.at of February 21, 2015, accessed on September 26, 2019
Web links
- Causa Zogaj - the chronology ( Memento from July 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), ORF-Online
- How fleeting compassion is , Süddeutsche Zeitung , June 4, 2008