The appeals court in the city of Brescia in northern Italy ruled in favor of an Albanian national on September 23, establishing that special protection requests can be filed directly at police headquarters and autonomously without being subordinate to a request for political asylum or subsidiary protection.

What is the Cutro decree?

The decision challenges the Cutro decree, which was converted into law on May 5, 2023, cancelling a 'double channel' that had been introduced in 2020 and required special protection to be recognised only by territorial commissions as part of international protection procedures.

The decree had also reduced the level of protection by eliminating the granting of protection on the sole basis of respect for private and family life.

The Brescia judges ruled that the foreign national has the right to request special protection even autonomously and that the police headquarters has the right to receive the request.

Otherwise, the court noted, people who have the right only to special protection would be forced to file baseless asylum requests that would result in a waste of time and resources for territorial commissions.

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Albanian's lawyer says ruling 'reopens space'

"The ruling is an important step and reopens space that the Cutro decree had tried to close," said lawyer Stefano Afrune, who defended the Albanian national.

"We are pleased with the significant result achieved," he added, and "I would like to express my admiration for the judges of the Brescia appeals court, who proved themselves to be a solid bulwark for human rights and able to fearlessly embrace judicial orientations in line with constitutional and conventional regulations."

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