Australia: Djokovic released by justice, his fate in the hands of the government


by Sonali Paul and Ian Ransom

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Novak Djokovic was released on Monday from the detention center he had been in since Thursday for entering Australia without being vaccinated against COVID-19, following a hearing on the cancellation of his visa by Australian authorities.

The Serbian player, world number one in tennis, is not however assured of being able to participate in the Australian Open, which opens on January 17 and where he is aiming for a 21st Grand Slam title, which would establish a record allowing to overtake Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke is considering canceling Novak Djokovic’s visa despite his judicial reinstatement, a spokesperson for the minister said.

Under Australian law, the cancellation of the player’s visa remains a prerogative of the minister, the spokesperson said.

“The minister is currently examining the matter and the procedure is continuing,” he said.

Judge Anthony Kelly ruled that the government’s decision to cancel the Serbian tennis player’s visa was “unreasonable” and ordered the release of the world number one within 30 minutes as well as the return of his passport.

He felt that the Australian authorities had not given sufficient time for Novak Djokovic to speak with the organizers of the Australian Open and with his lawyers and to provide them with a full response after being informed of the plan to cancel. his visa.

Stressing that Novak Djokovic’s lawyers had defended that “his personal and professional reputation, as well as his economic interests, were likely to be directly affected”, Judge Anthony Kelly also ordered the Australian federal government to pay the costs of the proceedings advanced by the player.

THE QUESTION OF THE VACCINE EXEMPTION NOT RESOLVED

The Australian judge also warned that a revocation of Novak Djokovic’s visa by the government, which would bar the 34-year-old from entering Australia for three years, risked fueling tensions rather than easing them.

The announcement of the release of Novak Djokovic, who has been detained since Thursday in a former Melbourne hotel serving as a detention center for foreigners, was celebrated with dances and drum rolls by some fifty supporters of “Nole” massed around the corner. entrance to the Melbourne court.

Novak Djokovic, who refuses to disclose his vaccine status and who has publicly criticized on several occasions the vaccine obligations against COVID-19, followed this hearing from the office of his lawyers. He has yet to appear in public and has not made any statement after his release was announced.

His brother Djordje Djokovic said in an interview with Serbian TV Prva that his family remained concerned about the possibility of the player being detained again or even deported from Australia.

Anthony Kelly’s decision does not concern the validity or otherwise of the exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine which Novak Djokovic said he had due to contamination by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus which had occurred in the previous six months. .

The Australian government has challenged this medical exemption to the double vaccination required to enter the territory, stressing that foreign nationals are by no means assured of being able to enter Australia.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL POLEMIC

According to Judge Anthony Kelly, Novak Djokovic had demanded and obtained this vaccine exemption after being contaminated last month by the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 and had presented the corresponding evidence before landing in Melbourne on Wednesday evening.

“What more could he have done?” Observed the judge.

The vaccination exemption of the Serbian player – now sometimes nicknamed “Novax” – has been very badly received in Australia, in particular in Melbourne, the city the longest confined in the world, in cumulative duration, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 90% of Australia’s adult population has received two injections of the COVID-19 vaccine and the cumulative number of infections since the start of the epidemic crossed the threshold of one million in Australia on Monday, more than half of which were recorded last week.

Hit like many countries by a new epidemic wave fueled by the Omicron variant, Australia is facing a surge in hospitalizations, with a screening system totally overwhelmed and tensions on supply chains.

The controversy, which has fueled diplomatic tensions between Canberra and Belgrade, has also stirred the local political sphere.

Former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd accused the center-right government coalition led by Scott Morrison of being the source of this mess.

“It’s total incompetence! If they really didn’t want him, why the hell did you give him a visa?” Said Kevin Rudd, accusing the government of orchestrating this controversy as “a huge strategy of diversion “in the face of the impossibility for Australians to be tested.

(Report Sonali Paul and Ian Ransom, with contributions from Byron Kaye, Cordelia Hsu, Loren Elliott and John Mair, written by Jane Wardell; French version Myriam Rivet, and Matthieu Protard, edited by Blandine Hénault)



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