Defence challenges refusal to grant political asylum to Anvar Sharipov in Italy

On February 14, advocate Gianfranco Carbone filed a complaint against refusal of political asylum in Italy to Anvar Sharipov, brother of Maryam Sharipova, who, according to the investigation, blew herself up in Moscow metro in March 2009.

The "Caucasian Knot" was informed from Italy by Giorgio Comai, editor of the Media Centre "Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso", who is tracing the fate of Sharipov, that they expect the court decision on Carbone's petition till the end of this week. Should the case on Anvar Sharipov's political asylum be delayed, its further consideration, according to the standard procedure, will last for several months, during which Sharipov will be able to legally stay in Italy.

On January 27, in the city of Gorizia, Sharipov's appeal for asylum was considered by the Commission on Political Asylum; and Anvar's application was denied. The Commission's response runs that Sharipov's story about his torture in Dagestan in 2004 looks implausible, since there are no obvious signs of torture on him, except for a small scar on his left arm. The Commission also argues that "inhuman and degrading treatment, which is spoken about by international sources," is spread in relation to detainees and prisoners only in Northern Caucasus; therefore, deportation of Sharipov in other regions of Russia does not threaten his security.

The Commission assumes that in case Sharipov is deported to Russia, in the near future there is no threat of his imprisonment.

It is worth noting here that the Commission's motivation for refusal of Anvar's political asylum fails to mention that he is a native of the Caucasus, as well as reports of Russian human rights defenders that human rights are broken not only in Northern Caucasus but in other regions of Russia as well. Facts of harassments of this sort were reported, for example, in the Bulletin of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" named "Autumn 2010; disappearances of residents of Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan and Ingushetia in Russian regions have acquired a systematic character."

As suggested by advocate Gianfranco Carbone, the standard procedure for considering the asylum application was accelerated, in order to deport Anvar Sharipov to Russia "without excessive noise".

Gianfranco Schiavone, a representative of the NGO "IZS" in Trieste, which is dealing with political asylum issues, is drawing attention to the intricacies of Anvar Sharipov's story. According to his version, it is unclear where Italian authorities had got Sharipov's photos from, and on whose initiative he was searched, as he had not been put on the international search list. Besides, according to Mr Schiavone, it is also not clear why the Commission had forecasted the fate of Anvar Sharipov after his deportation to Russia.

Let us note here that in comparison with other European countries, Italy very rarely satisfies applications on granting political asylum to Russian nationals. According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, in 2009 Italy had 309 citizens of Russia with the status of political refugee, while in Germany - about 37,000, in Austria and Poland - about 15,000 each, France - around 9000, and in Norway - nearly 4000 refugees from Russia.