Deportation due to a criminal conviction and a delimited right to respect for family life
JUDGMENT
Salija v. Switzerland (no. 55470/10) 10.01.2018
SUMMARY
Deportation. Family reunion. The applicant is a FYROM national and the case concerned the revocation of his permanent residence permit in Switzerland and his deportation. Following two criminal convictions for embezzlement (in 2003) and for homicide (in 2004), the applicant’s deportation procedures were initiated and the immigration authorities withdrew his permanent residence permit and ordered his expulsion. The courts took into account the seriousness of the offenses and that he had not been fully integrated into Switzerland, even though he was living there from a very young age. Referring to Article 8 (the right to respect for private and family life), the applicant complained of the withdrawal of his residence permit and his deportation, arguing that he had no close ties/bond with the “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, but instead had come to Switzerland as a child, had lived there for more than 20 years, had married and raised two children. The Court has ruled that there is no violation of the Convention.
USE
The right to the family is not violated by the expulsion of a criminal who has not been integrated into his country of residence and that his children can easily settle in the country of origin.
PROVISION
Article 8
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicant, Bljerim Salija, is a Macedonian national, who was born in 1980 in the municipality of Tetovo (“the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”). The case concerned the revocation of his permanent residence permit in Switzerland and his expulsion.
Mr Salija arrived in Switzerland in 1989 aged nine to be reunited with his family and was granted a permanent residence permit. In 1999 he married a Macedonian national who also held a permanent residence permit in Switzerland. The couple have two children together. Following two criminal convictions for embezzlement (in 2003) and for homicide (in 2004), Mr Salija
had expulsion proceedings brought against him, the migration authorities revoking his permanent residence permit and ordering his removal. The expulsion order was served in July 2009, shortly
before Mr Salija’s release on parole after having served a third of his five-year-and-three-month prison sentence for homicide.
All of his appeals before the domestic courts, ultimately to the Federal Supreme Court in July 2010, were dismissed. The courts notably took into account the gravity of his offences, that he was not
well integrated in Switzerland, that he spoke Albanian and that he was familiar with the culture in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” where he had spent parts of his childhood and which he had visited since. Moreover, his wife, who was also a national of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and knew Albanian as well the country’s culture, and his children, who were of an adaptable age, could reasonably be expected to relocate.
In October 2010 Mr Salija left Switzerland for “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” in order to comply with the expulsion order. His family joined him there in December 2010. The family has since returned to Switzerland (in 2015) and live in Zurich.
Relying on Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life), Mr Salija complained about the revocation of his residence permit and his expulsion, arguing that he had had no close ties with “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” whereas he had arrived in Switzerland as a child, had lived there for more than 20 years, marrying and raising two children.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
No violation of Article 8