A Cyprus court has dismissed the asylum appeal of a 19-year-old Cameroonian man who alleged his uncle planned to sacrifice him for money, ruling that his account lacked credibility and contained too many gaps to be accepted.
The Administrative Court of International Protection upheld the Asylum Service’s earlier rejection of the man’s application for international protection, finding that the weaknesses in his narrative remained and that none of his claims could be accepted given the many significant gaps in their internal consistency.
The court found that his account gave no well-founded fear of persecution on racial, religious, nationality, social group or political opinion grounds, and that there were no substantial grounds to believe he would face a real risk of serious harm if returned to Cameroon.
What he claimed
The man told the Asylum Service that his parents died in a road accident in 2020, after which he went to live with his aunt and grandmother, who mistreated him. He then moved in with his uncle, who initially treated him well, but he later came to believe his uncle intended to sacrifice him for money. He also claimed to have seen a room in his uncle’s home containing human body parts and a photograph of his uncle.
The Asylum Service found his account unconvincing. He provided no details of how the road accident occurred, produced no death certificates for his parents, gave no specific account of the abuse by his aunt and grandmother, and offered no detail to support his sacrifice allegations.
Background
The man arrived in Cyprus on October 19, 2022, crossing from the occupied areas as an unaccompanied minor. He applied for international protection, which the Asylum Service rejected as unfounded after an interview in which it found he had not given convincing answers to substantiate his claims. He appealed through a representative of the Commissioner for the Protection of Children’s Rights, seeking to have the refusal overturned. The court dismissed the appeal.