Warsaw lawyers from the Dentons Strategic Litigation Program, which is designed to provide pro bono support in human rights cases, were invited by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, running its own “Strategic Litigation Programme”, to become involved in protecting a family from Tajikistan.

In October 2016 a Tajik woman with her family (including two minor children) was placed in the Guarded Center for Foreigners in Przemyśl even though, by law, she should not have been detained there because she was a torture victim who had experienced mental and physical violence back in her own country.

During her nearly nine-month stay in the center she has had a number of psychiatric and psychological consultations. She should have been released given her health and the well-being of her children. Moreover, it was found that the prolonged detention of her children in the center had an adverse effect on their health and development.

Yet, their stay in the center was repeatedly extended. The woman attempted suicide in June 2017. She was diagnosed with symptoms associated with the violence she suffered in her country and with her family's stay in the Polish center.

Thanks to the efforts of lawyers from Dentons and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, the family was finally released from detention. Now an application has been made to the court on behalf of the woman and her children seeking general damages from Poland for their unfair placement in the guarded center for foreigners. The matter is currently before the Regional Court in Warsaw and the woman and her children are being represented pro bono by Michał Jabłoński, PhD, Katarzyna Cukierska and Zofia Maciejewska of Dentons.

On behalf of the family, lawyers from the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights made an application against Poland to the European Court of Human Rights.

About Dentons Litigation Program

Dentons Warsaw engages in human rights litigation on a pro bono basis as part of its Strategic Litigation Program. Recently Dentons' lawyers have provided client representation in a number of pro bono cases to counter Nazi propaganda and Holocaust denial, to stand up against hate speech crimes induced by xenophobia, religious hatred or homophobia, and to protect the rights of disadvantaged groups, such as people with disabilities, migrants, refugees and ethnic minorities.

About Dentons

Redefining possibilities. Together, everywhere. For more information visit dentons.com