Volgograd court obliges MIA to consider case of refugees from Afghanistan

A large family of refugees from Afghanistan, named Sh(...)*, has demanded in court to extend their temporary asylum in Russia due to the threat of persecution in their homeland. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) insists that the couple failed to provide reasons why they can't return to Afghanistan, while their defence treats the requirement to justify the asylum request as practically impossible and contrary to the law.

Mok(...) has two higher educations; he studied in Afghanistan and India; under the democratic regime, he worked in Kabul in a bank and government bodies. When the Taliban* came to power, they considered Mok(...) a US intelligence agent and the culprit in the arrest of one of Taliban* leaders. They began persecuting him; they threatened his wife, as she worked in a bank "in violation of Islam principles." "When Taliban* came, I didn't go outside with my children for nine months," R(...) has recalled.

On December 10, 2019, Mok(...) flew with his family to Moscow, and in Volgograd applied to the MIA asking for asylum, because even then the spouses received threats from supporters of the Taliban** banned in Russia. In Russia, the wife R(...) gave birth to their third child. They could not leave for home after the visa expired due to the childbirth and closed borders due to the pandemic.

The couple were granted temporary asylum, but this February the MIA for the Volgograd Region refused to extend it, believing that there were "no humanitarian reasons" for this.

Now, they demand impossible from the Sh(...) couple – "to provide irrefutable proofs of the threats they receive from Taliban*," Yulia Aksyonova, an advocate, has stated. "You receive threats from Islamic radicals, and you should ask them to provide some written confirmation of these threats," Yulia has explained.

She has noted that the maximum penalty for violating the regime of stay in Russia for Afghan refugees is a fine. They can't be deported to Afghanistan, since there is threat for her life and health. Yulia Aksyonova has also recalled the international laws protecting refugees' rights in such cases.

The court has agreed with the defence's arguments and obliged the MIA to consider the family's application for an extension of the temporary asylum.

* The "Caucasian Knot" has removed the names after receiving an appeal from the family members, in which they asked to remove the identification in order to avoid possible trouble in Russia with them or their relatives who stay in Afghanistan.

** The Taliban is recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia by the court.