Entry in register of undesirables infringed moral rights
17.04.2019
At the request of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Artur Pietryka and Magdalena Kotowicz represented pro bono a citizen of Tunisia, M.H., who, although he held a permit for temporary stay in Poland, was without his knowledge entered in a list of foreigners whose presence in Poland is deemed undesirable.
As a result of entry of Mr H.’s name in the list, upon returning from Tunisia to Poland he was stopped by the Border Guard and held for three days at the airport in a detention area, and subsequently rerouted to Turkey, where he remained for eight more days. The Warsaw Regional Court held that entry of Mr H. in the register of undesirable persons infringed the moral rights of a person whose centre of life interests is in Poland. The regional court awarded compensatory and exemplary damages. The judgment was affirmed by the Warsaw Court of Appeal and is legally final.
More information at the HFPC website.