Lawyers sue Germany over visas for Afghan police trainers

German human rights group Pro Asyl on Monday said lawyers had filed for the former trainers of the Afghan police to be granted visas and protection in Germany.

The individuals were left behind when the West withdrew from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power and, according to the litigants, are in "great danger".

Who filed the case and why?

In a statement, Pro Asyl said it was supporting the two lawyers Matthias Lehnert and Susanne Giesler, in an action at the Berlin Administrative Court.

Pro Asyl and the lawyers claim that the German government has failed to fulfill its obligations to the trainers, who were former employees of a police project of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).

It said they are now suspected of being spies and faced threats and persecution by the Taliban. 

However, the trainers have so far not been recognized as "local forces," to whom the German government has promised help.

In an interview with the lawyers published by ProAsyl, Lehnert said the action was about Berlin fulfilling a constitutional duty.

"In the debate about the admission of threatened Afghans, it is often suggested that this is an act of humanitarian mercy."

"But that's not true, we're talking about constitutional duties" for Germany to offer protection, he said.

"There is a danger to life and limb for the plaintiffs because of their work for German institutions."

Pro Asyl managing director Günter Burkhardt described the lawsuits as "a desperate cry for help." 

"The wheels of justice turn slowly. By the time there is a verdict, the men in question could already be dead," he said, adding an appeal for the German government to "act here immediately."

Who are the plaintiffs?

The staff in Afghanistan conducted training courses for Afghan policemen and policewomen and had worked according to GIZ specifications.

"The plaintiffs I represent are at serious risk from their involvement in the police project because they worked in the security sector, which per se is a reason for persecution by the Taliban," said Lehnert.

The training of Afghan police officers was part of a cooperative project between the Afghan Interior Ministry and the GIZ.

The litigants claim their clients are being denied visas and letters of acceptance by the German government because of their contractual situation, despite working for many years on the project. 

"The Taliban do not distinguish between different types of contracts," said Lehnert, describing the distinction as "perfidious."

The lawyer said he was filing for six former employees of the GIZ police project in court, while his colleague was representing five other families.

One client's family was attacked and abused in their home shortly before the Taliban took power in July, Lehnert said. "They later hung my client from a tree for eight hours and broke several of his bones. They said to him that he sinned because he collaborated with the Germans."

Another client's brother was murdered because he did not want to reveal where the "collaborator with the Germans" was, the lawyer said.

Rushed evacuation process

From 2015, Germany was the second-largest troop contributor to NATO's Resolute Support Mission seeking to train, advise and support the Afghan defense and security forces.

The Taliban takeover in August last year — as the US and NATO allies withdrew from the country — surprised many Western governments.

In the rushed evacuation process, many people were stranded in Afghanistan because of bureaucratic problems or because they could not reach the airports before the last evacuation flights left.