In SMM v. THE UNITED KINGDOM – 77450/12 (Judgment : Violation of Article 5 – Right to liberty and security (Article 5-1 – Lawful arrest or detention)) [2017] ECHR 582 (22 June 2017), a Zimbabwean national residing in the UK, complained to the ECHR that his detention from 28 November 2008 to 15 September 2011 was in violation of Article 5 1 (f) of the Convention, was lawful under domestic law and was unreasonable, arbitrary and disproportionate.
Even though S.M.M, had been detained for a period of two and half years and was considered vulnerable as someone suffering from serious mental health problems, nothing much turned upon the issues of the stay on forced removals to Zimbabwe that was in place during his period of detention but most importantly, because of his conduct during the period of detention, the ECHR refused to afford the applicant any financial compensation for the period during which he was found to have been unlawfully detained.