Court Overturns Deportation So Migrant Can Have Chemo

An immigrant has won a legal battle for the right to stay in Switzerland despite being convicted of drug trafficking, theft, actual bodily harm, damaging property and other offences so that he could stay and continue receiving chemotherapy for lung cancer.

The decision by the Swiss Supreme Court overturned an earlier ruling by the Lucerne migration office that migrants can be expelled if they end up with criminal convictions for more than a year in prison.

This had been breached following a conviction in 2015 for the man in his mid-50s and he was jailed for three-and-a-half years, due to be deported upon his release.

But he fought against it, arguing that he had lung cancer and needed the support of his family and to continue the chemotherapy with the same medical team if his health was not to be put at risk.

The court ruled that although the chemotherapy could continue in Kosovo they accepted their was a risk to his health if the continuity was not maintained, and therefore ruled he had a right to stay in Switzerland.

The lawyers for the man who was not named because of local privacy laws argued that as a father of five he had a strong family support network in Switzerland, which he would not have if he was forced to moved back to Kosovo.

The canton of Lucerne that was behind the move to deport him will also have to pay his legal costs of 2,500 CHF (1,980 GBP). But the man was also warned that if he commits further crimes, he could still then face the possibility of deportation in the future.


To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News


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