L.M. AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT
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86. The Government further argued that during the administrative
expulsion proceedings, notably during the court hearings, the applicants had
only provided general and summary information about the reasons allegedly
preventing their return. The documents to support the claims had only been
submitted for the hearing of 27 May 2014 in the Kaluga Regional Court,
and had either been outdated, such as “Update I” of December 2012 relating
to the UNHCR document “International Protection Considerations with
regard to people fleeing the Syrian Arab Republic”, or so general in nature
that they had failed to corroborate the individual circumstances of each
applicant. By way of example, the Government submitted copies of two
court decisions where Syrian nationals had been able to obtain reversal of
the expulsion orders (see paragraphs 71 and 73 above).
87. Specific information, for instance concerning the destruction of their
homes and the death of their family members had not been submitted by
A.A and L.M. until 27 May 2014. The significant delay in reporting their
alleged fears to the Russian authorities raised doubts as to the veracity of
their applications.
88. Lastly, the Government stressed that on 17 July and 15 October 2014
the applicants had lodged requests not to have their applications for refugee
status and temporary asylum reviewed. This inconsistency had prevented
the FMS from examining their complaints on the merits. The examination
of A.A.’s complaint had been left incomplete in view of his escape from the
detention centre in August 2014 and the absence of any contact with the
authorities since then. The Government were of the opinion that a further
examination of A.A.’s complaint was impossible in the circumstances.
89. In view of the above, the Government were of the opinion that the
applicants’ claims under Articles 2 and 3 should be dismissed for nonexhaustion of domestic remedies or as manifestly ill-founded.
2. The applicants
90. The applicants argued that the question of their expulsion to Syria
had been considered and decided primarily within the framework of the
administrative proceedings, in which they had submitted extensive
documents and arguments pointing to the danger of a violation of Articles 2
and 3 in the event of their return. The judicial decisions of 15 and 16 April
and 27 May 2014 had failed to take these arguments into account and had
made no effort to dispel them. In the April hearings in the District Court,
they had raised their fears of returning to Syria. During the hearing of
27 May 2014, they had submitted extensive and detailed information about
the conflict there and the danger they would face if returned. These
documents included UNHCR and FMS documents, other relevant
information and their own detailed statements. The applicants stressed that
L.M. was a stateless Palestinian and was therefore in particular need of
international protection, while A.A. and M.A. were from Aleppo, where
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