deportations | Departure to Armenia instead of deportation to Russia

Arthur was in the deportation prison in Büren until he was forced to voluntarily leave for Armenia today. Photo: dpa/Friso Gentsch A 21-year-old Yazidi was to be deported to Russia on Wednesday. He had been in detention pending deportation since October 8th. Instead, Arthur left for Armenia “of necessity voluntarily” at 9:55 a.m. on Wednesday morning. This is what Oezkan Aksoy from the Asylum Working Group reports from his hometown of Bielefeld. The association advocates for the rights of refugees and made the threatened deportation public on Tuesday.

Aksoy says that Arthur was accompanied by officers from the Federal Police and the Central Immigration Office until he boarded. “So much for voluntariness,” he comments. The attempt to negotiate with the city of Bielefeld to give Arthur a chance to stay instead of deportation to Russia failed. The city only refrained from deporting him on the condition that he agreed to travel to Armenia on the same day. With his Russian passport, Arthur can enter there without a visa and stay in the country for up to 90 days.

“The risk that the young man from Bielefeld could end up in an existentially dangerous situation in Russia due to the threat of military service and his lack of knowledge of Russian apparently ultimately played no role for the responsible authorities,” says Aksoy.

In its call to stop the deportation, the AK Asylum reported on the 21-year-old's living situation. He has lived in Bielefeld since he was ten years old, together with his parents and siblings. This is where his entire social environment is located. In August he was supposed to start training as a specialist in furniture, kitchen and moving services. To do this, he applied for a residence permit in July.

Before he could sign his training contract, the immigration authorities suddenly asked him to “voluntarily” leave for Russia. He didn't get a work permit to start his training. The immigration authorities have now forestalled a decision on the application to the Hardship Commission of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, which according to the AK Asylum had not yet been completed, by forcing the person to leave the country voluntarily to Armenia.

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