27.2.2023

Official Journal of the European Union

C 71/8

(Case C-280/21) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Area of freedom, security and justice - Common asylum policy - Eligibility for refugee status - Directive 2011/95/EU - Article 10(1)(e) and (2) - Reasons for persecution - Concepts of ‘political opinion’ and ‘attributed political opinion’ - Attempts by an applicant for asylum to defend himself, in his country of origin, by legal means against non-State actors acting illegally and in a position to exploit the mechanism by which that State imposes penalties for criminal offences)

(2023/C 71/08)

Language of the case: Lithuanian

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: P.I.

Defendant: Migracijos departamentas prie Lietuvos Respublikos vidaus reikalų ministerijos

Operative part of the judgment

Article 10(1)(e) and (2) of Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted

must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘political opinion’ includes attempts by an applicant for international protection, within the meaning of Article 2(h) and (i) of that directive, to defend his personal material and economic interests by legal means against non-State actors acting illegally, where those actors, on account of their connections with the State via corruption, are in a position to exploit, to the applicant’s detriment, the mechanism by which that State imposes penalties for criminal offences, in so far as those attempts are perceived by the actors of persecution as opposition or resistance as part of a matter related to those actors or their policies and/or methods.

Language of the case: Lithuanian