H.S. AND OTHERS v. CYPRUS JUDGMENT
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from section 8 of that Law, according to which, in the event of a change of
address, the applicant had to inform the Asylum Service either directly or
through the local Aliens and Immigration Police Department, within three
days (see paragraph 236 below). According to the note in his file the
applicant had not attended the interview arranged for 6 July 2007. In the
note it is stated that a letter had been sent to him on 7 June 2007 by the
Asylum Service requesting him to attend the interview. The applicant,
however, had not received this letter as he had changed address in the
meantime without notifying the authorities. Furthermore, it had not been
possible to make telephone contact with him as he had given a wrong
number.
13. The applicant did not lodge an appeal with the Reviewing Authority
for Refugees (hereafter “the Reviewing Authority”).
14. The applicant submitted that he never received a letter asking him to
attend an interview nor had he received notification of the decision of the
Asylum Service to close his file so as to be able to appeal against it.
2. Application no. 41786/10 - A.T. v. Cyprus
15. The applicant, who is a Syrian national of Kurdish origin, was born
in 1985 in Syria.
16. The applicant left Syria on 25 September 2008 and entered Cyprus
illegally on 12 November 2008 after travelling from Turkey.
17. In his application form to the Court the applicant stated that he had
left Syria because he had been harassed and ill-treated by the Syria Security
Police due to his origin and his connections to the Yekiti party. He stated
that he had left Syria illegally.
18. The applicant applied for asylum in Cyprus on 13 November 2008.
In his application for asylum, the applicant claimed that he had left Syria for
two reasons. First of all, he had been beaten up by members of the Security
Forces as he had complained about having to repair their cars at his car
repair garage without payment. Secondly, his business had suffered setbacks
by rising oil prices. He stated that he had left Syria legally.
19. The Asylum Service held an interview with him on 15 May 2009. In
his interview the applicant claimed that he had been arrested and beaten up
by the Security Forces on a number of occasions in connection with their
demands to have their cars repaired for free and that the Head of the
Security Forces had threatened to imprison him for a very long period. He
also claimed that after he had left Syria he had found out that the Security
Forces as well as the Syrian authorities were looking for him on the pretext
that he had participated in the Qamishli events in 2004. He therefore faced
imprisonment if he returned to Syria.
20. His application was dismissed on 29 May 2009 on the ground that he
did not fulfil the requirements of the Refugee Law of 2000-2007 (as
amended up to 2007), and the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the