The Supreme Court sets doctrine and warns that automatic asylum should be granted to Ukrainians residing in Spain

It ensures that protection must be granted without the need for the citizen to prove any persecution

MADRID, 24 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Supreme Court (TS) has established as a doctrine that "Ukrainians residing in Spain can immediately benefit from the principle of non-refoulement without the need to previously submit an application." As he has specified, it will suffice to prove that he is a national of Ukraine and that he wishes to take advantage of international protection so as not to be expelled.

The magistrates have adopted this decision by virtue of the Order adopted by the Council of Ministers on March 9, 2022, which extended the temporary protection granted to people affected by the war that is taking place in Ukraine after the Russian invasion, as established by the European Union (EU).

In a ruling, to which Europa Press has had access, the court recalled that the EU agreed to "facilitate the indiscriminate reception of refugees from Ukraine without requiring them to apply for asylum." Thus, it has specified that the applicant is not required to prove that he is being persecuted nor is he needed "proof that he is fleeing from a situation that generates a real and effective risk of suffering an injury or serious damage to life, health or integrity if you return to the country of origin or residence".

In 30 pages, the Contentious-Administrative Chamber has stressed that the beneficiaries of this measure have "the right to move freely throughout Spanish territory and to reside freely in it", as well as administrative authorization to work and the possibility of enjoying social assistance when do not have enough resources.

In the resolution, for which the magistrate and former president of the General Council of the Judiciary and the TS Carlos Lesmes has been a speaker, the court has studied the specific case of two Ukrainian citizens --and their two children-- who in 2018 requested in the Provincial Brigade for Foreigners of Madrid to recognize their right to asylum or, failing that, subsidiary protection.

According to the sentence, two years later the Ministry of the Interior denied their request, considering that the Ukrainian crisis, which began at the end of 2013, was limited at that time to the Donetsk and Lugansk provinces, areas in which the recurring.

Dissatisfied with the decision, they took the case before the National Court and then before the Supreme Court. The State Attorney's Office expressed its opposition to the appeal and insisted that "the war situation in itself" is not a circumstance that "justifies by itself" the granting of refugee status. Regarding temporary protection, the legal services of the Administration assured that it was necessary for Ukrainian citizens to apply because it is not granted automatically.

The magistrates of the high court have not agreed with the argument of the Advocacy and have ensured that Ukrainians residing in Spain can avail themselves "immediately and without the need to submit a prior application" to the principle of non-refoulement.

Within the framework of the resolution, the Supreme Court has stressed that the decision of the National Court to reject the appeal of Ukrainian citizens "was issued before February 24, 2022, so it could not take into account the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian armed forces" nor the Order approved by the Council of Ministers in March of that year.

Now, in the sentence handed down this January, the high court has "no doubt" that this case, of Ukrainian nationals residing in Spain since before February 24, 2022, the Order signed by the Executive should be applied.

Already last December, the Supreme Court granted this type of temporary protection to a Ukrainian citizen in an irregular situation in Spain on whom an expulsion order was pending for several convictions for crimes of robbery with force issued before the war began.