Facts
The complainant, a national of Mali, entered Switzerland on 28 December 1998 and filed an asylum application. On 25 March 1999, the Federal Office for Refugees rejected the application and ordered the expulsion of [K.] from Switzerland with a departure deadline of 15 April 1999. After [K.] failed to use the set departure deadline, he was arrested by the Bern city police on 4 June 1999 and reported for selling eight additional cocaine pellets. On the same day, the aliens' police of the canton of Bern ordered deportation detention. The detention judge 7 at the Detention Court III Bern-Mittelland reviewed and confirmed the detention on 7 June 1999.
The complainant requested the Federal Court to release him from detention and stated that he regretted his crimes and wanted to leave Switzerland himself. The detention judge decided to reject the complaint, insofar as it was admissible. The aliens' police of the canton of Bern requested rejection.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the legality of the deportation detention and the question of whether the complainant could validly waive a written justification of the detention decision. According to Art. 5 para. 4 ECHR, everyone who is deprived of their liberty by arrest or detention has the right to a procedure in which a court quickly decides on the legality of the detention and, in the event of illegality, orders their release.
The Federal Court came to the conclusion that the detention judge was not allowed to accept a waiver of a written justification of the detention decision, as the complainant was foreign-language and not familiar with the law and was not represented by a lawyer or otherwise qualified. The statements of the complainant recorded in the minutes of the hearing do allow the conclusion that there are detention grounds, but there is a lack of justification for the detention judgment and a detailed justification of the detention by the aliens'…