Dear Finnish migration authorities,<\/p>\n
We urge you to grant asylum to the Russian human rights defender and journalist Elena Maglevannaya. She arrived in Finland in late May 2009 and has stayed there since. Maglevannaya decided to apply for asylum in Finland after she was persecuted by the Russian authorities for her articles about the torture of Chechen inmates in Russian prisons. Moreover, Maglevannaya received several death threats from Russian ultranationalist organisations closely linked to the authorities.<\/p>\n
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All this made it impossible for Elena Maglevannaya to return to Russia, where she faced jail time and\/or near certain death. In many of her articles, Maglevannaya criticised harshly the policies of the Russian government, particularly Russia’s military aggression against Chechnya. Several Russian journalists who have written about the conflict and who have condemned Russia’s war crimes in Chechnya have either been killed (e.g., Anna Politkovskaya) or jailed (e.g., Boris Stomakhin).<\/p>\n
In our opinion, the case of Elena Maglevannaya falls under Chapter I Article 1 of the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which states: “The term ‘refugee’ shall apply to any person who […] owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of […] political opinion, is outside the country of [her] nationality and is unable […] to avail [herself] of the protection of that country.”<\/p>\n
In accordance with the statutes of the international Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, we the undersigned appeal to the Finnish migration authorities to grant asylum to the Russian journalist Elena Maglevannaya and protect her from political persecution in Russia.<\/p>\n
Rubati Mitsayeva, Chair of the Warsaw Committee of “Freedom of Speech”;
\nMayrbek Taramov, Director of the Chechen Human Rights Centre;
\nDavid Kudykov, academician, United Kingdom;
\nYevgeny Novozhilov, independent journalist, Russia;
\nFrants Avdzei, Belarusian journalist, Chairman of the Belarusian Distress Foundation, Poland;
\nIvan Grabarchuk, independent journalist, Ukraine;
\nAnzor Maskhadov, journalist, son of the late President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Norway;
\nAndrey Derevyankin, former political prisoner, Russia;
\nSaid-Emin Ibragimov, President of “Peace and Human Rights” Association, France;
\nNadezhda Banchik, Amnesty International, USA;
\nViktoria Pupko, President of the Anna Politkovskaya Foundation, USA;
\nHana Demeterov\u00e1, human rights activist, Czech Republic;
\nBurak Oztas, Lawyer, Istanbul;
\nRoman Chornyi, human rights activist, doctor, St Petersburg, Russia;
\nEldar Zeynalov, Director of the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan;
\nOksana Chelysheva, human rights defender, Russian-Chechen Friendship Association;
\nKazbich Chechensky, journalist, Norway;
\nKerkko Paananen, Finland;
\nVille Ropponen, Finland;
\nTarja Kantola, Finland;
\nAlia S.;
\nBronwyn Anne Myers;
\nJeremy Putley, UK;
\nTheresa Normen, Finland.<\/p>\n
The petition is open to signature. If you would like to support Elena Maglevannaya you may follow this link<\/a> and add your name to the list.<\/p>\n