"Angel of Grozny" to be deported

Support group intends to appeal to Administrative Court

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Finnish immigration officials have rejected the applications for asylum made by Xhadizhat Gataeva and her husband Malik Gataev, known as benefactors of orphans of the war in Chechnya.
      The Finnish Immigration Service made the negative decisions last week.
     
According to a group supporting the couple, the Gataevs intend to appeal against the decisions to the Helsinki Administrative Court and to apply for an interruption of deportation.
      Xhadizhat Gataeva, also known as the ”Angel of Grozny”, and her spouse are seeking political asylum in Finland alleging persecution by the Lithuanian security officials and saying that the charges made against them were politically motivated.
      The two were apprehended in the Helsinki region in January on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant.
      They had been sentenced by a Lithuanian court to prison terms of a year and a half for allegedly abusing their foster children. Part of their prison term is still outstanding.
      Last October, the Gataevs, who had kept an orphanage in Chechnya and Lithuania, applied for asylum in Finland.
     
In January, the Helsinki District Court refused to extradite the pair to Lithuania as their asylum applications were still pending.
      The prosecutor appealed against the decision to the Supreme Court, which in turn is waiting for a definition of policy from the European Court of Justice.
      Lawyer Markku Fredman, who assisted the couple in court, says that the negative asylum decisions do not have any impact on the deportation process, as they are based only on the fact that Lithuania is a safe country.
     
”Whether or not their statements are true has not been investigated, even though it is essential information for the deportation procedure”, Fredman notes.
      In Finland the Gataevs are known primarily on the basis of an award-winning documentary film, The 3 Rooms of Melancholia, directed by Pirjo Honkasalo, which tells about an orphanage kept by the couple in Chechnya.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Gataev husband and wife remain detained in Finland (11.1.2010)
  Finnish police detain “Angel of Grozny” and her husband (8.1.2010)
  Rescuer of Chechen orphans missing after arrest in Lithuania (23.10.2008)

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