03:13, 24 May 2018

Armenia: Salman Sever receives refuge seeker's certificate

Salman Sever (Maxim Baidak). Screenshot from Youtube Channel by user Soyuz Chesti https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnVnQo3Uuho

Bogdan Kalyusskiy, also known as Salman Sever, has received a certificate of the status of refuge seeker, Arthur Sakunts, a rights defender and the head of the Vanadzor Office of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on May 22.

According to his story, the certificate will not allow extraditing Kalyusskiy to Russia.

Yerevan court arrested Salman Sever (known in Russia under the name of Maxim Baidak) for two months on suspicion of forging documents and crossing the Armenian border illegally. Armenian law enforcers treated his passport issued in the name of Bogdan Kalyussky as fake, although the activist officially changed his name after upon receiving Ukrainian citizenship in 2016.

Mr Sakunts has reminded that Kalyusskiy was persecuted in Russia since 2013, where he is accused of public calls for terror actions.

"The Armenian Criminal Code does not prescribe such a restriction of the freedom of speech; it's not prosecuted in Armenia and doesn't entail any criminal liability," Arthur Sakunts said, adding that they continue keeping Bogdan Kalyusskiy in the Unabashed Prison, in the ground floor, where "the custody conditions are inhuman."

According to his story, legal representatives of Kalyusskiy have appealed to Armenian authorities asking them to stop "the illegal criminal prosecution against him."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Author: Armine Martirosyan

Source: CK correspondent