The daily French newspaper, Midi Libre has reported that the Education without Borders Network (RESF – Réseau éducation sans frontière) has applied to the prefecture in support of two Chechen asylum seeker families in France.

According to the article, two Chechen families, who are seeking asylum, have lived in the city of Mende, France for more than three years. However, their asylum applications were rejected on October 22, 2010 by the French authorities, due to the Dublin-II regulation.

“They arrived in Poland first, in the Schengen Zone. Thus, our authorities don’t want to take care of them, even if the families have lived in Mende for more than three years and their children have gone to school there. Yesterday (02.15.2011), they were summoned to leave France’s territory and given plane tickets to Poland. However, due to the administrative process, their extradition has been deferred to a further date. We believe that if these families are extradited to Poland, then certainly will be sent back to Chechnya, where they face death and danger,” said Yves Tanné, from RESF.

“We have helped these two Chechen families make a new asylum request on humanitarian grounds, but it seems very unlikely,” said Patricia Grimé.

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