‘How could this happen in a civilised world?’. The Swiss authorities are potentially putting a Chechen man’s life at risk by insisting he is deported to Russia rather than allowing him to return home to his wife in Ukraine — Novaya Gazeta Europe
novayagazeta.eu
Ethnic Chechen Ali Batayev, who has spent the past year in a Swiss jail awaiting deportation to Russia despite having committed no crime, is understandably frustrated by the indifference to his fate shown by the Swiss authorities, not least when he discovered his appeal against being forcibly repatriated had been rejected on the grounds that “the human rights situation in Chechnya is steadily improving”.

Ethnic Chechen and Russian citizen Ali Batayev has now spent a whole year in a Swiss jail, for two months of which was on hunger strike. Swiss human rights activists have, along with his wife, appealed to every possible institution in the country, explaining how dangerous it would be for Batayev to return.

After decided to end his hunger strike, his wife took the unusual step of sending her husband food to Switzerland from war-torn Ukraine and he ultimately emerged from the two-month-long hunger strike alive. They are both still hopeful he will be able to return to Ukraine instead of being deported to Russia.

  • SHITPOSTING_ACCOUNT@feddit.deEnglish
    31·
    11 months ago

    There are two parts to this. Switzerland deciding that he can’t stay, and Switzerland deciding that he must be sent to Russia.

    The article explains why Switzerland doesn’t want to grant him asylum, and that’s something up for endless debate. What I don’t get (and the article doesn’t mention), what’s the issue preventing him from going to Ukraine instead of Russia? Switzerland wants him gone from the country, he wants to be gone from the country, what’s keeping that from happening?

    • SHITPOSTING_ACCOUNT@feddit.deEnglish
      17·
      11 months ago

      More info I found (This was supposed to be an edit, but my app turned it into a reply, so be it)

      Found a non-paywalled copy of a Swiss news article. That one hints at him not having a permit to enter Ukraine (and Ukraine not being too motivated to issue one). An earlier Novaya Gazeta article states “They were told that the Swiss deportation order could be overturned if the Ukrainian authorities confirmed they would allow him to return”. It then becomes very vague about what happened, claiming that “the military said they would readily pick Ali up at the Ukrainian border” and some commander wrote a letter saying he’d be in danger in Russia. The latter would only help with the asylum application which I assume has already been denied and the denial confirmed by courts, which makea the letter useless, and the former doesn’t sound like they have an official OK from Ukraine allowing him to enter either… I suspect we’re being misled here, and returning to Ukraine is actually not possible because Ukraine won’t allow it.