You have the right to challenge the lawfulness of your detention and request compensation in a case of unlawful detention.
Complaint
When you are detained by border guards, you should be immediately informed that you have the right to challenge the lawfulness of your detention. You can challenge your detention if you are detained as an asylum seeker or as an irregular immigrant.
The Police and Border Guard Board or the Estonian Internal Security Service may detain you for up to 48 hours without the authorisation of the administrative court. If you find that your rights are violated or your freedoms are restricted by an administrative act or in the course of administrative proceedings you may file a challenge. Unless otherwise provided by law, a challenge concerning an administrative act or measure shall be filed within thirty days as of the day when you became or should have become aware of the challenged administrative act or measure. Unless different jurisdiction is provided by law, a challenge shall be filed through the administrative authority which issued the challenged administrative act or took the challenged measure with an administrative authority which exercises supervisory control over the administrative authority which issued the challenged administrative act or took the challenged measure. If your challenge is dismissed or your rights are violated in challenge proceedings, you have the right to file an appeal with an administrative court under the conditions and pursuant to the procedure provided by the Code of Administrative Court Procedure.
What to write
When submitting your complaint, you should try to explain your situation, including all relevant facts, as well as the reasons as to why you believe that you should not be, or should not have been, detained.
It is stated in the article 38 of the Code of Administrative Court Procedure what a complaint should include.
Compensation
Everyone is entitled to compensation for intangible as well as tangible harm that he or she has suffered because of the unlawful actions of any person. If you wish to ask for compensation because you believe that your detention was unlawful, you should do this together with the application challenging your detention. You can seek compensation for material damages as well as moral damages. Material damage is a material loss, like the salary that you did not earn because you were unlawfully detained. Moral compensation may be granted for the humiliation and suffering you went through because of the unlawful detention.
In the case that financial compensation is claimed, the amount of the compensation must be added to the information specified in the complaint. If compensation is claimed for non-patrimonial damage, also when it is impossible or unreasonably complicated for the applicant to determine the extent of patrimonial damage, you may forgo indicating the amount of compensation in the action and request a just compensation at the discretion of the court.
Decision of a judge
If the PBGB decided that you have to be detained more than 48 hours then they have to make application to Administrative court. Administrative court will decide if the appeal is grounded or not. A judge has to make a reasoned decision when considering the lawfulness of detention. The judge must evaluate whether there were any grounds to detain you, bearing in mind the specific circumstances of your case. The decision must not be merely formal and generic. The judge should evaluate all of the facts that the authorities have about you and are relevant to your situation.
Appeal
You can appeal the decision of the judge to a court of appeal (Ringkonnakohus) within 15 days of receiving the decision (or in case you don´t understand Estonian and have no representative, the translation of the decision). The exact procedure and the time limits for the appeal must be indicated in the Administrative court decision. You also have the right to request compensation for the wrongful decision of the court. Read more about compensation in this case.