“Courrier de l’Ouest“, a regional daily French newspaper, has reported that a Chechen family was arrested in Angers and send to a detention center in Rennes.

According to the report, Chechen couple Akhmadov-Ekhaeva and their three children, who are 5, 15 and 17 years old, arrived in France in June 2009. The family’s asylum request was rejected by OFPRA (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless People) in December 2009. Later, the decision was confirmed by the National Court for Asylum and an administrative court in November and December 2010. The main reason for the negative decision was that the family had already been granted asylum in 2006 in Poland. The courts and French authorities said that they could not find any evidence that the Chechen family’s safety would be in danger in Poland. On August 23, the family was arrested in their apartment in Anger and notified that they had no right to stay in France any longer.

For the moment, the family was placed in administrative detention. However, the family’s 17-year old son is missing and his parents refuse to indicate his whereabouts. French authorities will decide soon whether they will deport the family without their son. On the other hand, the family has the right to decide where they want to return; to Russia, to Poland or another EU country where they would be allowed to live legally.

*Text was translated by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco