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The City Court Prague decided a case related to Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.

The City Court Prague decided a case related to Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. The Court gives the Ministry of Interior an obligation, after procedural delays, to decide on the applicant´s status based on the Convention within a firmly set time limit. The appelant was a man born in gulag in the former Soviet Union who lived in the Czech Republic. As his documents expired, he was repeatedly imprisoned, but he had no way to renew his documents as no state recognized his cizizenship. The court criticizes delays in the procedure and points out “there is nothing in the file but the application and applicant´s repeated reminders”. The procedure lasted almost 9 months. It is the first time in the Czech Republic that the court deals with the legal gap – lack of an explicit procedure for stateless persons. City Court Prague, 10A 155/2017.