The Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court determined on Thursday that individuals subject to military service in Russia are not automatically eligible for subsidiary protection based solely on the expected mandatory service. This ruling overturned a previous decision made by a lower court.
In a prior ruling from the Berlin Administrative Court, subsidiary protection had been granted to a plaintiff born in 2004. That court had deemed it “reasonably likely” that he could not resist the pressure of service as a so-called “contract soldier”. As a “contract soldier” he faced the threat of deployment to an internationally illegal war against Ukraine, which carried the risk of inhumane or humiliating treatment, specifically the possibility of being killed, injured, or forced into illegal acts.
However, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) appealed this decision, and the Higher Administrative Court ultimately ruled in the Bamf’s favor. The 12th Panel stated that it could not form the necessary conviction that the plaintiff faces, with considerable probability, mandatory conscription as a “contract soldier” in the Russian Federation and would thereby sustain serious harm requiring subsidiary protection. In this specific case, the plaintiff allegedly does not face deployment to Ukraine as a basic military service participant. Furthermore, completing the one-year basic military service, in itself, does not carry a “considerable probability” of torture, or inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. There was likewise insufficient probability of a threat justifying a deportation ban.
The Higher Administrative Court declined to accept the appeal for revision, although the court noted that there remains an option to lodge a complaint against this rejection. This complaint would be decided by the Federal Administrative Court (Judgment of May 28, 2026 – OVG 12 B 7/24, Preceding Court: VG Berlin, Judgment of December 8, 2023 – VG 39 K 240.19 A).
