Urgent: France May Extradite a Chechen Refugee to Russia
Local sources have reported an alarming situation that a Chechen couple faces in France.
According to information we received, a Chechen asylum seeker, B.D., born in May 1979, was arrested in the city of Quimper, France on January 15, 2013. He was held in prison overnight and on the following day he was transferred to the detention center in Rennes, from which he will be extradited to the Russian Federation.
B.D. and his wife Z.D. left the Russian occupied Chechen Republic of Ichkeria due to the ongoing military occupation and repression against the civilian population. They arrived in the city of Troyes, France in May 2009. However, French authorities didn’t believe their story and refused their asylum request. In 2011, they lost their case in the courts as well. After that, the Chechen couple moved to Quimper where they found help from a local committee. With help from the local committee, they appealed for asylum again, but their application was rejected immediately.
During a conversation with B.D., he was very weary. He feels very tired and fears his extradition, which may occur at anytime.
*Text was written by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco