Editorial board of Waynakh Online received an e-mail related to the situation of Gataev couple. According to the information, Malik and Khadizhat Gataeva have today been granted asylum in Finland. Khadizhat Gataeva is also known as “The Angel of Grozny” according to the title of a bestseller book by the Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad, who published a book in 2008 describing the life in her centre for homeless children in Grozny.

The Gataev family had to flew the oppression of Kadyrov and settled down in Lithuania. However, in Lithuania the Gataevs were exposed to persecution by the Lithuanian security officials, acting once again as an extension of their pre-independence collegues of KGB. The Gataev family had to flew once again, asked asylum in Finland. The Lithuanians asked for their extradition, based upon an “European Arrest Warrant” they issued. Due to this warrant, the Gataevs were arrested in Finland. However, they were later released by order from the Finnish Supreme Court.

Meanwhile Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the pro-Russian regime in the occupied territory of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, demanded return of the Chechen Orphans in Lithuania.

In March 2012, the Finnish Supreme Court decided that the asylum request of the Gataevs shall be handled in duly order in Finland, as they have presented accusation of human rights abuses in Lithuania. 29.4.2012 the Gataevs got a decision from the Finnish migration authorities, granting them political asylum in Finland.

This case is very special, as it means that a member state of the European Union, Finland, has thrown suspicion upon the human rights situation in another EU country, Lithuania. Normally Finland should not handle a asylum request which should be handled in another European country bound by the notorious Dublin agreement.

For Lithuania this is a disgraceful story pointing at the post-soviet state of the country’s juridical system. Most probably, the actions of the Lithuanian authorities will later on be handled by the European Court of Human Rights.

Let us remind the readers about other similar events. In 2004 the Lithuanian secret police stopped publishing of Kavkaz Center website, which was based in Lithuania at that time. Consequently, also Kavkaz Center had to move to Finland. The actions of the Lithuanian secret police were later on condemned by the supreme court of Lithuania.

Let us also remind about the present oppression of Lithuanian authorities against the Lithuanian Moslem girl Egle Kusaite.