On 21 November 2019, in the case of Ilias and Ahmed v. Hungary, the Grand Chamber has found a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights on account of the applicants’ removal to Serbia and no violation of the Convention as regards the living conditions in the transit zone. The applicants, two asylum seekers from Bangladesh, had spent 23 days in a border transit zone in Hungary before being expelled to Serbia when their applications for asylum were rejected. See also a video of the delivery of the judgment.

In the case of Z.A. and Others v. Russia, the Grand Chamber has found a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights on account of the applicants’ confinement in a transit zone, the living conditions in that zone and the treatment to which they were subjected. The case concerned the confinement, for long periods of time, of four men in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport while the authorities dealt with their respective asylum applications. They all eventually left Russia after living in the transit zone. See also a video of the delivery of the judgment.