The Legal battle in Australia against the deportation of Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic was taken to the Australian Federal Court, a higher instance, a day after the country’s Immigration Minister, Alex Hawke, decided cancel the visa for the second time. In a preliminary hearing by Judge David O’Callaghan, of the Federal Court of Australia, which began virtually at 10:15 local time (23:15 GMT on Saturday), the transfer of the case was confirmed, although there is still to determine if the appeal presented by the tennis player’s lawyers will be addressed by the plenary session of the magistrates.
The 34-year-old Serbian tennis player, who is unknown if he was present at the preliminary hearing, met in the morning with immigration agents in the city of Melbourne, who were going to formally arrest him. According to a court order issued Friday night following an emergency hearing at Melbourne’s Federal Circuit Court, Djokovic is allowed to meet with his lawyers between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. this Saturday (11 p.m. GMT Friday to 03:00 GMT on Saturday) under the surveillance of two immigration agents. After that, Djokovic must be detained until tomorrow’s hearingeven though the player cannot be deported from the country until the challenge is reviewed to Minister Hawke’s decision.
The process is expected to end before the start of the Australian Open, which takes place between January 17 and 30 in the city of Melbourne and in which Djokovic hopes to obtain his tenth title and become the most successful tennis player in history. with 21 Grand Slams.
Yesterday, Friday, after several days studying the case, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke decided to cancel the visa again of Djokovic with the intention of expelling him from the country, which could also mean a three-year ban on returning to Australia.
Djokovic traveled to Melbourne from Spain on January 5 with a medical exemption so as not to be vaccinated, having recently been infected with covid-19, although upon arrival the Immigration authorities canceled his visa and detained him. But last Monday, a court also chaired by Judge Kelly ordered the tennis player’s release after understanding that he had not been treated “fairly”.
.
