Supreme court orders release of detained Cameroonian

The Supreme Court has ruled a Cameroonian national held in Menoyia detention centre should immediately be released and allowed to join his partner who gave birth to their child months ago.

The decision taken last week was published on Wednesday and detailed that the man had been absent from his child’s birth, despite a request from the social services saying he should be allowed to leave the Menoyia detention centre and reunite with his family.

Court described his months of detention as “unacceptable”.

Though authorities had ordered his expulsion from Cyprus, the decision was temporarily halted until the social services issued their opinion on the matter.

The man had been detained since April 27 last year and was set to be deported. Nonetheless the order was suspended until July 4 to grant the social services time to issue their opinion.

By September 13, the social services detailed that his partner had since given birth and had not requested money off the state, living off whatever she had scraped together by working as a cleaner for two years.

It highlighted the woman was in need of her partner’s emotional as well as financial support, especially after she gave birth, and as such, they should be together.

Nonetheless, a week later, the migration department ruled he should remain in detention as he ran the risk of fleeing authorities.

At the end of November, the man’s lawyer filed a request to the Supreme Court asking him to be released immediately.

The attorney-general issued 15 objections to the request.

In its decision, the Supreme Court highlighted the Cameroonian man did not have a passport but had never submitted false documentation to the authorities, and had even worked at a petrol station in the past.

It added the man is a father to a child born in Cyprus and the length of his detention has been “unacceptable”. As such, it ordered his immediate release.