Russia Praised for Refusal to Extradite Uzbek Refugee
Russia Praised for Refusal to Extradite Uzbek Refugee
Human rights activists have hailed a Russian decision not to agree to an extradition request from Uzbekistan, saying it sets a welcome precedent.
On August 19, media in Russia reported that a review board of the St Petersburg city court had overturned a decision taken by the Russian prosecution service two months earlier to extradite Orinboy Ergashev, an Uzbek national.
The review panel said the extradition order was in breach of article three of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, to which Russia is party, given the possibility that Ergashev might suffer torture if he was returned to his home country.
Ergashev fled to Russia in 2007, claiming he faced persecution because of his role as imam or prayer-leader at a village mosque in the eastern Andijan region of Uzbekistan.
Devout Muslims are frequently harassed and arrested in this Central Asians state because the authorities suspect them of radical Islamist sympathies. The government stepped up this practice after the violence in Andijan in May 2005, when government troops fired into a crowd of demonstrators, killing and injuring hundreds.
On arriving in Russia, Ergashev left obtained temporary residence rights and got a job as a driver.
Meanwhile, the Uzbek authorities charged him in absentia with anti-constitutional activities, distributing subversive literature and belonging to an illegal extremist organisation. After they submitted an extradition request to the Russian authorities, he was picked up in St Petersburg last September and placed in a detention centre. The Russian migration service turned down a request for temporary asylum.
Human rights activists said Ergashev’s detention over a total of nine months contravened both national law and international legal standards.
Given Russia’s past record of handing over Uzbek nationals to Tashkent, the latest decision comes as a welcome surprise.
"This sets a good precedent for political and religious refugees seeking temporary asylum in Russia," Umida Niazova, a human rights expert from Uzbekistan now living in Germany, told NBCentralAsia. "On a number of occasions Russia has breached its own laws and the [United Nations] refugee convention, and extradited people to Uzbekistan when they were clearly at risk of torture."
The UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees says that signatory states must not forcibly return people to countries where their life or freedom is at risk on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, social status or political views.
In 2007, human rights organisations criticised a decision by Moscow to send a group of 12 Uzbeks living in the Ivanovo region back to their country of origin, as well as for taking steps to extradite several others.
Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine have also faced accusations to being too accommodating to Uzbek extradition requests in cases where there was a real risk of mistreatment.
Lawyers say the St Petersburg court ruling is a landmark decision in the treatment of asylum-seekers all over the former Soviet Union. As well as being the fruit of coordinated campaigning on Ergashev’s behalf, the decision is an acknowledgement of Russia’s obligations under international refugee law.
Nadezhda Ataeva, chair of the Paris-based Human Rights Association in Central Asia, cautioned that “such court rulings are still the exception rather than the rule".
At the same time, she hailed the decision as “an excellent example of work by human rights defenders, which shows their skilful documentation of abuses and of the rights of applicants, and their swift use of urgent legal action".
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
On August 19, media in Russia reported that a review board of the St Petersburg city court had overturned a decision taken by the Russian prosecution service two months earlier to extradite Orinboy Ergashev, an Uzbek national.
The review panel said the extradition order was in breach of article three of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, to which Russia is party, given the possibility that Ergashev might suffer torture if he was returned to his home country.
Ergashev fled to Russia in 2007, claiming he faced persecution because of his role as imam or prayer-leader at a village mosque in the eastern Andijan region of Uzbekistan.
Devout Muslims are frequently harassed and arrested in this Central Asians state because the authorities suspect them of radical Islamist sympathies. The government stepped up this practice after the violence in Andijan in May 2005, when government troops fired into a crowd of demonstrators, killing and injuring hundreds.
On arriving in Russia, Ergashev left obtained temporary residence rights and got a job as a driver.
Meanwhile, the Uzbek authorities charged him in absentia with anti-constitutional activities, distributing subversive literature and belonging to an illegal extremist organisation. After they submitted an extradition request to the Russian authorities, he was picked up in St Petersburg last September and placed in a detention centre. The Russian migration service turned down a request for temporary asylum.
Human rights activists said Ergashev’s detention over a total of nine months contravened both national law and international legal standards.
Given Russia’s past record of handing over Uzbek nationals to Tashkent, the latest decision comes as a welcome surprise.
"This sets a good precedent for political and religious refugees seeking temporary asylum in Russia," Umida Niazova, a human rights expert from Uzbekistan now living in Germany, told NBCentralAsia. "On a number of occasions Russia has breached its own laws and the [United Nations] refugee convention, and extradited people to Uzbekistan when they were clearly at risk of torture."
The UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees says that signatory states must not forcibly return people to countries where their life or freedom is at risk on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, social status or political views.
In 2007, human rights organisations criticised a decision by Moscow to send a group of 12 Uzbeks living in the Ivanovo region back to their country of origin, as well as for taking steps to extradite several others.
Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine have also faced accusations to being too accommodating to Uzbek extradition requests in cases where there was a real risk of mistreatment.
Lawyers say the St Petersburg court ruling is a landmark decision in the treatment of asylum-seekers all over the former Soviet Union. As well as being the fruit of coordinated campaigning on Ergashev’s behalf, the decision is an acknowledgement of Russia’s obligations under international refugee law.
Nadezhda Ataeva, chair of the Paris-based Human Rights Association in Central Asia, cautioned that “such court rulings are still the exception rather than the rule".
At the same time, she hailed the decision as “an excellent example of work by human rights defenders, which shows their skilful documentation of abuses and of the rights of applicants, and their swift use of urgent legal action".
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
