AOB: "Infringement of fundamental rights" The AOB argued that custody issues ought to be handled as quickly as possible since the fundamental right of freedom is involved, and that if the entities involved in this case had been better organised, N. could have been released three days earlier. Organisational shortcomings resolved When the Chief Justice of Klagenfurt Regional Court learned of the case, before the AOB investigative proceedings were initiated, he instructed that fax machines which are not staffed on an ongoing basis should be monitored regularly, and that urgent documents should be forwarded to the relevant department immediately. Faxes are now sent directly to the filing office to ensure swift processing. The department in question now receives a phone call in advance, before the document is sent. Right to proceedings of appropriate duration ASYLUM PROCEEDINGS TAKING TOO LONG During the year there was a huge, nearly tenfold increase in the number of complaints to the Asylum Court (2009: 24; 2010: 212). Moreover, complaints related not just to existing proceedings before the Independent Federal Asylum Senate (94), but also to new proceedings (118). Efforts to reduce the backlog postponed The AOB noted that in many instances appeal proceedings were taking several years to resolve. In many cases, until the complaint was submitted to the AOB the authorities had taken no steps at all in proceedings. Not surprisingly, this means the backlog has not been reduced (earlier it had been boldly claimed that this would be achieved by the end of 2010). Political responsibility The AOB is well aware of the difficult circumstances under which the Independent Federal Asylum Senate was operating, and that the situation has not in any way improved for the Asylum Court, which has been in operation since July 2008. When they started operations, both entities took on large numbers of existing cases, and only the Asylum Court was adequately staffed. This is also the reason why the AOB did not find a case of maladministration. Instead, it 24