A German court refuses to grant refugee status to Syrians fleeing military service
A press release issued by the Administrative Court in the city of Trier, southwest of Germany, said that the asylum law does not apply to people who only wish to avoid performing military service in Syria, stressing that in the event of fleeing from Syria to avoid compulsory service, he will receive subsidiary protection, not Refugee status.
The court considered that “the Syrian asylum seeker who evaded military service by fleeing abroad is not entitled to a refugee status,” while “the case of the fleeing (dissidents) will be different, as they are likely to face political persecution if they return to Syria.”
It pointed out that the plaintiffs are seeking, through their lawsuits, to obtain refugee status, based on the decision of the European Court of Justice in 2020, which includes granting refugees who left Syria to flee from military service, refugee status due to being subjected to criminal prosecution based on political reasons.
It emphasized that according to the latest available information, young Syrians who left their country to evade compulsory service are not punished simply for escaping, noting that reporting penalties included “individual cases” and were not linked to the causes of persecution related to the refugee law, which “refutes the assumption that Submitted by the European Court of Justice ”.
It indicated that those fleeing their service in the Assad regime forces are punished and belong to the group whose members are likely to be victims of imprisonment, torture and execution, and stressed that the penalties stipulated in Syrian law are effectively imposed on a regular basis on defectors from the Assad regime forces, Fleeing is considered an anti-government act, as this leads to more severe punishment than usual, which constitutes political persecution.
