Mr Zakaria is a third country national with permanent residence in Sweden. He was flying from Beirut to Copenhagen (Denmark) via Riga (Latvia) with final destination Lund (Sweden), because Copenhagen was closer to his home in Sweden. At Riga airport he was stopped for a document inspection and the border guards finally allowed him to enter Latvia’s territory.

However, due to the inspection, Mr Zakaria missed his flight to Copenhagen. Moreover, Mr Zakaria complained that the inspection occurred in an offensive and provocative manner, which violated his human dignity. Consequently, he lodged a complaint with the Head of the State border control and sought compensation for non-material harm. The Latvian authorities dismissed his complaint for compensation. Mr Zakaria appealed before the Local Administrative Court, the Regional Administrative Court of Appeal. His appeal was declared inadmissible because under national law it was not possible to appeal the decision of the Head of the State border control before ordinary courts and, hence, lacking the main action, it was also not possible to bring action for the damages connected to the same entry. Mr Zakaria appealed the decision before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court finally decided to refer the case before the CJEU.