Robert Jovicic

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Robert Jovicic (Name in Serbian: Роберт Јовичић) was born on December 4, 1966 in France of Serbian parents. At the age of two, his family migrated to Australia, where Jovicic became an Australian permanent resident and lived for the next 36 years. He is now a stateless person, having had his Australian Permanent Residency revoked in 2004.

In Australia, Jovicic became addicted to heroin and turned to crime. By 2004 his criminal record numbered some 158 criminal convictions, mainly for burglary and theft. In June 2004 his permanent residency was cancelled and he was deported to Belgrade, Serbia, at the discretion of the Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock, a decision since upheld by Mr Ruddock's successor, Amanda Vanstone. Jovicic's father now lives in Serbia, and Jovicic was reported as being co-operative and undistressed with moving there at the time. (The accuracy of this report, could be significantly challenged by accessing his medical documents whilst in detention, which clearly point that he was regularly very distressed, tearful, depressed, anxious and medicated for these symptoms. There is further evidence he did not access appropriate mental diagnosis whilst in detention.) He has since been diagnosed with psychological problems. However, Jovicic does not speak Serbian and he was only issued a 7 day visa, which meant he was unable to work, and the Serbian authorities declared him stateless.

His case was widely publicised in the Australian press in late November 2005, and there were calls for the Australian Government to reverse its cancellation of Jovicic's permanent residency. Jovicic's legal counsel have stated that he does not speak or understand the Serbian language. (The truth of this assertion has been questioned and it has been suggested it is an exaggeration in order to gain media and public sympathy,^{[citation needed]} on the basis that his father is Serbian and Jovicic had spent over a year in an environment where limited English was spoken. On the other hand, his father had his own problems and was not able to help Jovicic much, their relationship was strained, and it can be difficult to learn a foreign language with little or no help.) (Jovicic's father has actually disowned Robert, he is unfortunately a chronic alcoholic.

In March 2006, Australian Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone announced that Jovicic will be given a special purpose visa and allowed to return to Australia temporarily. The then Senator Vanstone actually promised the family through the then DIMIA that he would be returned and given a RRV resident return visa. He was also offered access to the new Reconnecting People Package, which was for the reintegration of those wrongly detained. A backflip was done and bureaucratic language used to modify this, a subsequent similar letter 7 days later confirmed the change of heart.^[clarify] There are also video archives of then Senator Vanstone's original and revised position. He has since returned to Australia and been granted a temporary Australian visa of two years.

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Other prominent immigration cases in Australia:

[edit] References

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Robert Jovicic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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