(2004/C 65 E/198)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2603/03

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Council

(20 August 2003)

Subject:   Risk of deportation of leading Chechen from France to the Russian Federation

According to information gathered by the Chechnya Committee, Mr Rouslan Maigov, his wife and their four children have applied for asylum in France. Mr Rouslan Maigov is the brother of Aslambek Maigov, the Moscow representative of the Chechen President Asian Maskhadov. Mr Rouslan Maigov has been arrested and beaten up several times in Russia and Chechnya. When last arrested in December 2001, a ransom of RUB 160 000 was paid to secure his release. Mr Rouslan Maigov is under particular threat for carrying cassettes in which President Maskhadov conveyed his orders to Mr Maigov's brother. Nevertheless, OFPRA (the French Refugee Office) followed by the appeal committee have rejected the application by Mr Rouslan Maigov and his family for asylum in France on the grounds that if Mr Aslambek Maigov is in Moscow without, apparently, being under threat, his brother Rouslan and his family could live in Russia. The argument put forward by the competent French authorities obviously does not take account of the arrests and maltreatment to which the Russian authorities have subjected Mr Rouslan Maigov in the past or the obvious ‘interest’ which the Russian authorities have shown in Mr Rouslan Maigov, or the fact that it is unfortunately the current practice in Russia to subject the members of leading Chechens' families to threats, intimidation and violence by way of a warning. Finally, Mr Rouslan Maigov, his wife and four children will be expelled from the reception centre for asylum-seekers at Marseilles in the next few days and will be forced to leave the country.

Is the Council aware of the situation of Mr Rouslan Maigov and his family? Does the Council consider that the decision by the competent French authorities is consistent with the common rules on the right of asylum laid down in the Schengen agreements? In more general terms, given the serious threats to which Chechens in the Russian Federation are subjected, does the Council not consider that it should take emergency measures to block any decision to expel Chechens living in the countries which are signatories to the Schengen agreements?

Reply

(17 November 2003)

The Council cannot intervene in individual asylum applications in the Member States, or in other individual cases such as those referred to in the question