Baisaev: refusal to grant residence permits to Chechens in Norway looks like political order

Refusals to grant residence permits by Norway to refugees from Northern Caucasus are politically motivated. This was stated by Usam Baisaev, a human rights defender and a member of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that January 25, 16 Chechen families, more than 60 persons in total, were sent from Norway to Russia.

Mr Baisaev believes that deportation decisions are made not on the basis of the law and legislation, and conventions on refugees, but on the basis of political order. In the course of making such politically motivated decisions, people are treated unacceptably; they are humiliated, he said.

"A half-blind refugee was brought to the map and offered to show something in it. It can be qualified as cruel treatment. 95 percent of asylum applicants in Norway from Northern Caucasus - not only Chechens - are rejected. It's a simple absurdity to suspect that almost hundred percent of people are liars," said the "Memorial" representative.

He told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about the grounds for rejections: "The reasons are truly cynical. For example, a refugee who complains of persecution on religious grounds may be told: look, but in Chechnya president introduces the Sharia law, go there... They may reject a man, whose brother was killed... They say, yes, we believe that your brother was killed, but you were not," said the rights defender.

In his opinion, this is done purposefully. They reject all, irrespective of what documents people bring: from human rights organizations or from the media. "A refugee is provided with an advocate only after the first rejection; while after the second one these people should be deported. Of course, Norway wants to somehow restrict itself from refugees, but it could have been done in a humanly way, in accordance with the law," said Baisaev.

Making his comment on the recent publication by the "Caucasian Knot" about the ban to Chechens to visit their homeland, the rights defender said that if a person says that he was persecuted in Russia, it would be logical not to go there for a while. "There are no facts that those who had received their asylum no want to go or went to Russia. Maybe, just a few cases... It's too risky for them," he said.

According to Svetlana Gannushkina, a rights defender and chair of the "Civil Assistance" Committee, deportation of Caucasian natives from Norway is simplified by the law on readmission adopted several years ago. "It seems to me that Chechens have no negative reputation there. The issue of security is not the case there; it's just a political issue," she added.