Exemption from punishment due to mental illness and expulsion

Case no. 33/2022
Judgment delivered on 3 October 2022

The Public Prosecutor
vs.
T

The District Court had found T guilty of robbery and aggravated violence, but exempted him from punishment due to mental illness. Instead, he was sentenced to placement in a secure psychiatric unit. He was also expelled with a permanent entry ban.

T appealed his sentence to the High Court, claiming reversal of the expulsion order, but the High Court affirmed the District Court’s judgment.

After the High Court’s judgment, the European Court of Human Rights passed its judgment in the case of Savran vs Denmark. This case concerned the issue of whether expulsion of the alien would be in contravention of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to respect for private and family life. The European Court of Human Rights stated that if the alien is exempt from punishment, the significance of this for the assessment of the expulsion, including the duration of the related entry ban, must be considered.

In T’s case, the Supreme Court held that he could be expelled, but that a permanent entry ban would not be reconcilable with Article 8. The Supreme Court thus amended the High Court’s judgment to expulsion with a six-year entry ban.