According to his lawyers – Djokovic apparently arrested again – News

    • Novak Djokovic is unlikely to take part in the Australian Open.
    • The Serbian tennis star has been arrested again. Djokovic’s lawyers announced this on Saturday, as reported by news agencies.
    • Djokovic is to be questioned by the immigration authorities in Melbourne on Saturday.
    • The final judgment of the federal court is expected on Sunday.

According to court documents, the 34-year-old Serb is now being held at a location in Melbourne while a court considers his appeal against his deportation from Australia. Djokovic spent the last weekend at the Park deportation hotel in Cranton.

The Australian government argued, according to court documents, that the unvaccinated tennis player’s presence in the country could “promote anti-vaccination sentiment”. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke justified the cancellation of Djokovic’s visa with “reasons of health and public order”.

An Australian court scheduled the hearing on Novak Djokovic’s visa cancellation for Sunday at 9:30 a.m. local time (Saturday evening 11:30 p.m. German time). Judge David O’Callaghan said Saturday the court will be in touch with all parties to clarify whether the case will be heard by a single judge or by the court as a whole later today. According to a court order on Friday evening, Djokovic is due to appear in Melbourne on Saturday for questioning by Australian immigration officials.

Visa invalidated for the second time

On Friday, the Australian government declared Djokovic’s visa invalid for a second time. The 34-year-old Serb had won his 21st Grand Slam at the Australian Open in Melbourne and wanted to set a new record. Participation of the world number one at the Australian Open is not yet impossible, but unlikely. The tournament starts on Monday.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke exercised his right on Friday and canceled Djokovic’s visa again. “Today I exercised my right to void Mr. Novak Djokovic’s visa,” Hawke said, “on the basis that it is in the public interest to do so.”

Legend:

Official statement from the ministry

srf

In the public interest?

The tennis star has appealed against having his visa for Australia canceled again. Apparently, the government justified its decision by saying that Djokovic could stir up public sentiment against corona vaccinations – at least that’s what the Serb’s lawyers put it. The lawyers could try to show that the decision made was not in the public interest.

His lawyers’ request that Djokovic remain in his rented premises until the end of the negotiations was not granted. But Judge Anthony Kelly at the same time prohibited the authorities from expelling Djokovic from the country until a valid verdict has been reached.

A decision in the cause is to be made on Sunday at the highest instance before the Federal Court of Australia, a federal court.

On Wednesday, Djokovic denied intentional misrepresentation and endangering other people, but acknowledged mistakes in dealing with his positive test result. He primarily defended himself against two allegations via Instagram: he neither intentionally gave false information about his travel behavior in the 14 days before the flight to Australia, nor did he, knowing that he had a positive corona test, attend an event with children in December and go there moved without a mask.

Djokovic described the “misinformation” that needed to be corrected as “hurting and upsetting to my family”. However, he admitted that he already knew about his positive test result in an interview with the French sports newspaper “L’Equipe” on December 18 and still did not cancel the appointment.

“Although I went home after the interview and went into isolation for the prescribed period, on reflection that was a miscalculation and I recognize that I should have postponed this commitment,” he wrote.

Djokovic described the fact that his entry form incorrectly stated that he had not traveled in the 14 days before his flight to Australia as a “human error” by his agent, “which was certainly not intentional”.

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