10.  The applicants were born in 1983, 1987 and 1988 respectively. Mr Khlaifia (“the first applicant”) lives in Om Laarass (Tunisia); Mr Tabal and Mr Sfar (“the second and third applicants”) live in El Mahdia (Tunisia).
11.  On 16 September 2011 in the case of the first applicant, then the next day, 17 September, in the case of the second and third applicants, the applicants left Tunisia with others on board rudimentary vessels heading for the Italian coast. After several hours at sea, their vessels were intercepted by the Italian coastguard, which escorted them to a port on the island of Lampedusa. The applicants arrived on the island on 17 and 18 September 2011 respectively.
12.  The applicants were transferred to an Early Reception and Aid Centre (Centro di Soccorso e Prima Accoglienza – “CSPA”) on the island of Lampedusa at Contrada Imbriacola where, after giving them first aid, the authorities proceeded with their identification. According to the Government, on this occasion individual “information sheets” were filled in for each of the migrants concerned (see paragraph 224 below); this is disputed by the applicants (see paragraph 222 below).
13.  They were accommodated in a part of the centre reserved for adult Tunisians. According to the applicants, they were held in an overcrowded and dirty area and were obliged to sleep on the floor because of the shortage of available beds and the poor quality of the mattresses. They had to eat their meals outside, sitting on the ground. The centre was kept permanently under police surveillance, making any contact with the outside world impossible.
14.  The applicants remained in the CSPA until 20 September, when a violent revolt broke out among the migrants. The premises were gutted by fire and the applicants were taken to a sports complex on Lampedusa for the night. At dawn on 21 September they managed, together with other migrants, to evade the police surveillance and walk to the village of Lampedusa. From there, with about 1,800 other migrants, they started a demonstration through the streets of the island. After being stopped by the police, the applicants were taken first back to the reception centre and then to Lampedusa airport.
15.  On the morning of 22 September 2011 the applicants were flown to Palermo. After disembarking they were transferred to ships that were moored in the harbour there. The first applicant was placed on the Vincent, with some 190 other people, while the second and third applicants were put on board the Audace, with about 150 others.
16.  The applicants described the conditions as follows. All the migrants on each vessel were confined to the restaurant areas, access to the cabins being prohibited. They slept on the floor and had to wait several hours to use the toilets. They could go outside onto the decks twice a day for only a few minutes at a time. They were allegedly insulted and ill-treated by the police, who kept them under permanent surveillance, and they claimed not to have received any information from the authorities.
17.  The applicants remained on the ships for a few days. On 27 September 2011 the second and third applicants were taken to Palermo airport pending their removal to Tunisia; the first applicant followed suit on 29 September.
18.  Before boarding the planes, the migrants were received by the Tunisian Consul. In their submission, the Consul merely recorded their identities in accordance with the agreement between Italy and Tunisia of April 2011 (see paragraphs 36-40 below).
19.  In their application the applicants asserted that at no time during their stay in Italy had they been issued with any document.
Annexed to their observations, the Government, however, produced three refusal-of-entry orders dated 27 and 29 September 2011 that had been issued in respect of the applicants. Those orders, which were virtually identical and drafted in Italian with a translation into Arabic, read as follows:
“The Chief of Police (questore) for the Province of Agrigento
Having regard to the documents in the file, showing that
(1)  on ‘17 [18] September 2011’ members of the police force found in the province of ‘Agrigento’, near the border of: ‘island of Lampedusa’, Mr [surname and forename] born ... on [date] ... ‘Tunisian’ national ... not fully identified, ‘undocumented’ (sedicente);
(2)  the alien entered the territory of the country by evading the border controls;
(3)  the identification (rintraccio) of the alien took place on/immediately after his arrival on national territory, and precisely at: ‘island of Lampedusa’;
WHEREAS none of the situations [provided for in] Article 10 § 4 of Legislative Decree no. 286 of 1998 is present;
CONSIDERING that it is appropriate to proceed in accordance with Article 10 § 2 of Legislative Decree no. 286 of 1998;
ORDERS
that the above-mentioned person be
REFUSED LEAVE TO ENTER AND RETURNED
–  An appeal may be lodged against the present order within a period of sixty days from the date of its service, with the Justice of the Peace of Agrigento.
–  The lodging of an appeal will not, in any event, suspend the enforcement (efficacia) of the present order.
–  The director of the Migration Office will proceed, for the enforcement of the present order, with its notification, together with a summary translation into a language spoken by the alien or into English, French or Spanish; and with its transmission to the diplomatic or consular delegation of the State of origin, as provided for by Article 2 § 7 of Legislative Decree no. 286 of 1998; and with its registration under Article 10 § 6 of the said Legislative Decree.
To be escorted to the border at: ‘Rome Fiumicino’
[Issued at] Agrigento [on] 27[29]/09/2011 on behalf of the Chief of Police
[Signature]”
20.  These orders were each accompanied by a record of notification bearing the same date, also drafted in Italian with an Arabic translation. In the space reserved for the applicants’ signatures, both records contain the handwritten indication “[the person] refused to sign or to receive a copy” (si rifiuta di firmare e ricevere copia).
21.  On their arrival at Tunis airport, the applicants were released.
22.  A number of anti-racism associations filed a complaint about the treatment to which the migrants had been subjected, after 20 September 2011, on board the ships Audace, Vincent and Fantasy.
23.  Criminal proceedings for abuse of power and unlawful arrest (Articles 323 and 606 of the Criminal Code) were opened against a person or persons unknown. On 3 April 2012 the public prosecutor sought to have the charges dropped.
24.  In a decision of 1 June 2012 the Palermo preliminary investigations judge (giudice per le indagini preliminari) granted the public prosecutor’s request.
25.  In his reasoning the judge emphasised that the purpose of placing the migrants in the CSPA was to accommodate them, to assist them and to cater for their hygiene-related needs for as long as was strictly necessary, before sending them to an Identification and Removal Centre (Centro di Identificazione ed Espulsione – “CIE”) or taking any measures in their favour. At the CSPA the migrants could, according to him, obtain legal assistance and information about asylum application procedures.
The judge shared the public prosecutor’s view that the interpretation of the conditions concerning the grounds for and duration of the confinement of migrants in a CSPA was sometimes vague. He also agreed with the public prosecutor that a range of factors were to be taken into consideration, leading to the conclusion that the facts of the case could not be characterised as a criminal offence.
The judge noted that the Agrigento police authority (questura) had merely registered the presence of the migrants at the CSPA without taking any decisions ordering their confinement.
26.  According to the judge, the unstable balance on the island of Lampedusa had been upset on 20 September 2011, when a group of Tunisians had carried out an arson attack, seriously damaging the CSPA at Contrada Imbriacola and rendering it incapable of fulfilling its purpose of accommodating and assisting migrants. The authorities had then organised transfer by air and sea to evacuate migrants from Lampedusa. The following day, clashes had taken place in the island’s port between the local population and a group of foreigners who had threatened to explode gas canisters. The judge explained that there had thus been a situation which was likely to degenerate, and which was covered by the notion of “state of necessity” (stato di necessità) as provided for in Article 54 of the Criminal Code (see paragraph 34 below). It was thus an imperative to arrange for the immediate transfer of some of the migrants by using, among other means, the ships.
As to the fact that, in the emergency situation, no formal decision had been taken to place the migrants on board the ships, the judge found that this could not be regarded as an unlawful arrest and that the conditions for the migrants’ transfer to CIEs were not satisfied. Firstly, the CIEs were overcrowded, and secondly, the agreements with the Tunisian authorities suggested that their return was supposed to be prompt. The fact that a refusal-of-entry measure (respingimento) had been ordered in respect of the migrants, without judicial scrutiny, a few days after their arrival, was not unlawful in the judge’s view. The calculation of a “reasonable time” for the adoption of that measure and for the migrants’ stay in the CSPA had to take account of logistical difficulties (state of the sea, distance between Lampedusa and Sicily) and of the number of migrants concerned. In those circumstances, the judge concluded that there had been no infringement of the law.
Moreover, the judge was of the view that no malicious intent could be attributed to the authorities, whose conduct had been prompted first and foremost by the public interest. The migrants had not sustained any unfair harm (danno ingiusto).
27.  In so far as the complainants had alleged that the way in which the migrants had been treated had been detrimental to their health, the judge noted that the investigations had found that nobody on the ships had applied for asylum. Those who, at the Lampedusa CSPA, had expressed an intention to do so, together with any vulnerable individuals, had been transferred to the centres of Trapani, Caltanissetta and Foggia. Unaccompanied minors had been placed in temporary accommodation and no pregnant women had been transferred to the ships. The migrants on board had been able to receive medical assistance, hot water, electricity, meals and hot drinks. Moreover, as recorded in a press agency note of 25 September 2011, T.R., a member of parliament (MP) had boarded the ships in the port of Palermo, and had observed that the migrants were in good health, that they were receiving assistance and were sleeping in cabins containing bed linen or reclining seats (poltrone reclinabili). Some of the Tunisians had been taken to hospital, while others had been treated on board by medical staff. Accompanied by the deputy chief of police (vice questore) and by police officers, the MP in question had talked with some of the migrants. He had thus been able to observe that they had access to prayer rooms, that the food was satisfactory (pasta, chicken, vegetables, fruit and water) and that the Civil Protection Authority (Protezione civile) had provided them with clothing. Some of the migrants had complained of a lack of razors, but the MP had observed that this could be explained by a measure taken to prevent self-harm.
28.  The judge noted that, even though the migrants had not been in custody or under arrest, a photograph published in a newspaper had shown one of them with his hands bound by black ribbons and in the company of a police officer. He had been part of a small group of individuals who, fearing immediate removal, had engaged in acts of self-harm and had caused damage to buses. In the judge’s view, the restraint in question had been necessary to guarantee the physical well-being of the persons concerned and to avoid aggressive acts against police officers who were neither armed nor equipped with any means of coercion. In any event, the conduct of the police officers had been justified by a “state of necessity”, within the meaning of Article 54 of the Criminal Code (see paragraph 34 below).
29.  In the light of the foregoing, the preliminary investigations judge concluded that the case file contained no evidence of the physical and mental elements of the offences provided for in Articles 323 and 606 of the Criminal Code.
30.  Two other migrants in respect of whom a refusal-of-entry order had been issued challenged those orders before the Agrigento Justice of the Peace.
31.  In two decisions (decreti) of 4 July and 30 October 2011, respectively, the Justice of the Peace annulled those orders.
In his reasoning the judge observed that the complainants had been found on Italian territory on 6 May and 18 September 2011 respectively and that the orders at issue had been adopted only on 16 May and 24 September 2011. While acknowledging that Article 10 of Legislative Decree no. 286 of 1998 (see paragraph 33 below) did not indicate any time-frame for the adoption of such orders, the judge took the view that a measure which by its very nature restricted the freedom of the person concerned had to be taken within a reasonably short time after the identification (fermo) of the unlawful migrant. To find otherwise amounted to allowing de facto detention of the migrant in the absence of any reasoned decision of the authority, which would contravene the Constitution.