Sweden denied refuge to painters' family from Krasnodar

On December 20, the Swedish Migration Service refused to grant political asylum to Krasnodar painters Alexei Knedlyakovsky and Lusine Djanyan, known for their oppositional actions. This decision caused outrage of Swedish social network users.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in June 2017, the Swedish authorities accepted for consideration Ms Danyan's and Mr Knedlyakovsky's applications for political asylum.

On December 20, the Swedish authorities notified Lusine Djanyan and Alexei Knedlyakovsky that their asylum applications were denied, and they have three weeks to appeal against it at the Migration Court, the Swedish Television reported on the same day.

Already on December 20, a petition drawn up in the Swedish language in support of the Krasnodar painter was posted on the "Change.org" portal. "Let Pussy Riot stay in Sweden!" – the author of the petition has called. The family of Knedlyakovsky and Djanyan was denied the asylum, although they have lived in Sweden since 2017, the petition says.

The decision of Swedish authorities has disappointed many Swedish-speaking users of social networks. Thus, Claes Olson wrote in his Facebook page that he was ashamed to be a Swede. "This is absolute insanity," Sarah Guarino Florén, a social network user, said about the decision of the Swedish authorities. "It's obviously a wrong decision," Olga Lännevall agreed.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 22, 2018 at 12:31 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.