Relatives report deportation of native of Chechnya from France to Russia

Ilyas Saduev, deprived of his refugee status by French authorities, was deported to Russia, his relatives said. Authorities of both countries failed to inform Saduev's relatives about his deportation and whereabouts.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 8, human rights defenders opposed the deportation of the 29-year-old Saduev from France to Russia, where he is under threat of execution, said the author of the petition addressed to Emmanuel Macron. This demand was supported by the Chechen human rights organization "Vaifond".

Despite the right to make a call to his relatives, which the French authorities were obliged to provide to Saduev within 12 hours from the moment of detention, his relatives are still unaware of his whereabouts. They claim that he was deported to Russia on March 12; the "Vaifond" has confirmed this information to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Saduev was deported on March 12. This has already been confirmed. His further fate is still unknown. Usually, in the first few days, those deported from Europe are interrogated by the FSB. Since he had a criminal record in Russia, he will most probably not be released from the FSB, but sent to the SIZO (pre-trial prison). According to the experience of another recent deportation from France, we are wary of physical and psychological pressure being applied to Saduev," the organization's lawyer has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 14, 2021 at 08:59 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.