Germany: Unprecedented asylum proceedings place two-year-old in the dock

The boy was one of four children from Angola appearing in court with their mother after being detained at Frankfurt Airport in April, the Frankfurter Rundschau reports.

The family had sought to be released from detention while awaiting their deportation flight to Angola. The father had already returned home.

Hanover lawyer Peter Fahlbusch said he did not know of any other case in which a toddler had attended a two-hour court hearing and directly faced an application for their continued detention.

The minutes of the court hearing earlier this month state: “The representative asked the two-year-old child if he would understand what the hearing was about. The child answered merely with ‘Mama’.”

Mr Fahlbusch said the two-year-old was sitting on his mother’s lap for the duration of his testimony and fell asleep at one point.

Because his mother was present, the Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) was not engaged to represent the child.

A spokesperson for the court confirmed that it was the first time children have been heard in a detention case.

The court ruled that the boy’s detention, alongside the rest of his family, “is reasonable, even though the person in question is a minor”.