Unwanted, Unnoticed: an audit of 160 asylum and immigration-related deaths in Europe
centre in Lausanne rather than be returned
to Italy under the Dublin regulation. He had
travelled to Switzerland around two years
earlier, but had voluntarily returned to
Italy, where he had indefinite residency. He
returned to Switzerland in 2014, saying that
life was impossible in Italy.120
UNITED KINGDOM
The Asylzentrum Lukmanier, an asylum centre in the Swiss Alps, is one
example of the isolation asylum seekers face in Switzerland.
• Feras Farees Abdel Motaleeb (32),
14/03/2013
An Iraqi asylum seeker of Palestinian origin
died in the Waldau ‘minimal centre’. Abdel
Motaleeb had been living in Switzerland
since 2008 and had preliminary leave to
remain, which allowed him to begin work at
a bakery. On his return from a visit to family
members in Sweden, he was housed in a
transit centre and then transferred to the
Waldau centre for unknown reasons. He was
discovered with serious head injuries on the
centre’s site, an isolated group of containers
serving as a detention centre for ‘problematic’ asylum seekers (mainly men with
mental health disorders and/ or alcohol and
drug problems). The conditions are cramped
and there are no resident staff.118
• Moncef S. (25), 02/05/2013
A Tunisian asylum seeker committed suicide
in Zurich after having his asylum request
refused and being threatened with imminent
deportation. Border police arrested him in
mid-March, and he attempted suicide for the
first time in an airport prison. He was then
taken to a psychiatric ward, but fled at the
beginning of May. Moncef was found dead
in the cellar of his flat in a week before his
twenty-sixth birthday.119
• Unidentified man (26), 29/10/2014
An Eritrean asylum seeker hanged himself
in his cell in the Aarau/ Argovie detention
SNAPSHOT: Indefinite detention for
migrants in prison-like conditions, casual
racism and brutality and medical neglect
are among the issues raised in the UK.
Judges have on several occasions ruled
that detention of severely mentally ill
migrants amounted to inhuman and
degrading treatment, and hunger strikes
and protests are common. Widespread destitution among refused asylum seekers,
including families with children, causes
despair.121
• Yurij Skruten, 01/2010
A Ukrainian man was found hanged in
a disused pub in Brentford. His body was
decomposed so the circumstances of his
death were difficult to establish. He had
apparently been living rough after his
asylum claim had been refused.122
• Sergei (43), Tatiana and Stepan (19)
Serykh, 07/03/2010
Three Russian asylum seekers died after
falling from the fifteenth floor of the Red
Road complex in Glasgow, where asylum
seekers were housed by the YMCA under
contract to the UKBA. According to media
reports, Serykh’s family had been granted
refugee status in Canada but were refused
citizenship. Following disputes with authorities, they left and travelled to Europe,
eventually seeking asylum in the UK in
2007. The family apparently settled in
Newham (London), when their asylum claims
were refused in December 2008. They then
moved to Glasgow in 2009. On 15 February
the family were told that they were to be
deported. They were also thought to be
IRR | European Research Progamme Briefing No. 10
24
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