Halle Administrative Court, 5 A 374/22 HAL, 2023 (Germany)

Germany: Halle administrative court grants refugee status to Georgian LGBT+ asylum applicant

On the 7th of August 2023, Halle Administrative Court published its judgment in the case 5 A 374/22 HAL. The case revolved around a Georgian national who had fled to Germany seeking international protection, citing intense societal and familial discrimination in his home country due to his homosexuality. The German Ministry for the Interior rejected his requests for refugee status, subsidiary protection, and to abstain from deporting him to Georgia.

In his submissions, the applicant made reference to the prevailing atmosphere of discrimination, violence, marginalisation and dehumanisation of LGBT+ persons that takes place within the Georgian domestic discourse – with many politicians and the Orthodox Church seizing every opportunity to harshen rhetoric. He also made a reference, in particular, to his brother, who appears to be motivated by extreme hatred of homosexuals and regularly subjected the applicant to humiliation, physical and verbal abuse. Furthermore, the applicant’s brother was well-connected within the Georgian police force; this, combined with the irregular and inconsistent enforcement of Georgia’s anti-discrimination legislation, convinced the applicant that he would not be afforded protection from attack by his brother and that he would not receive any form of meaningful recourse, should this again occur.

The court was unequivocal that societies in which LGBT+ persons experience discrimination or exclusion are not ipso facto a sufficiently persuasive reason to afford these persons international protection outside their country of origin. However, this may form part of a justification to find a person’s country of origin unsafe. The Court noted that while Georgia de jure had adequate anti-discrimination laws for LGBT+ persons in place, its implementation was insufficient. Due to the brother’s connections to the police, his determinedness to seriously maim or kill the applicant, the sparse difference in levels of acceptance of LGBT+ persons in urban versus rural areas, and the inferior socio-economic position of same in Georgian society, Halle Administrative Court ordered the Ministry for the Interior to afford the applicant international protection. It was likewise compelled to lift the deportation order against the applicant.

Based on an unofficial translation from within the EWLU Team. We would like to thank Julia Zelvenska, Head of Legal Support and Litigation at ECRE, for bringing this case to our attention.

[Source: ELENA Weekly Legal Update – 20 October 2023]