Human rights activists publish story of Chechen expelled from Austria

A native of Chechnya was expelled from Austria after the country's authorities deemed him a threat to state security. They did not provide any objective arguments in support of this argument, citing classified "results of a police investigation."

A native of Chechnya, who left the republic in 2013, started a family during his years in Austria - he married a refugee from the republic, who had lived in the country since 2004, and the couple had three daughters in 2015-2021. Nevertheless, the country's authorities decided to expel him to Russia, and his wife was denied citizenship.

The story of a native of Chechnya about the procedure and process of expulsion from Austria was published today by the Memorial Human Rights Defense Center (listed as a foreign agent by the Russian Ministry of Justice). The man, named Akhmed in the article, was deported from Austria to Russia in May 2025. At the same time, another native of Chechnya, who was in Austria, was deported to Russia with a similar justification for allegedly “threatening national security,” but human rights activists have not yet been able to contact him.

Akhmed married a Chechen woman legally living in Austria in 2014, but he himself was denied a residence permit for several years. According to the man, he has not committed a single offense in all these years. In 2018, he tried to legalize his residence in Germany with the same set of documents that he submitted to Austrian officials. “Having reviewed these materials, the German migration service stated that the refusal in Austria was unfounded. They recalled that the law does not allow family separation unless otherwise provided by law. Germany informed the Austrian authorities that the man was in Germany, and they requested his extradition for deportation to Russia,” the organization’s website says.

On the advice of a lawyer, Akhmed then returned to Russia himself, without waiting for deportation, and in June 2018, he filed a petition for family reunification at the Austrian Embassy in Moscow, but never received a response. Having returned to Austria again in 2019, he was able to obtain a temporary residence permit and a work permit, after which he registered a business and officially worked, and also learned German. Despite this, Austrian officials refused him a long-term residence permit, stating that he posed a danger to the country.

According to Akhmed, the migration service representatives referred to the fact that he attends an officially operating mosque in the country. They also showed him a certain photograph of men praying in a mosque, taken in Turkey in 2011-2012, stating that he was one of the people in the picture. Akhmed claims that he has never been to Turkey and left Chechnya for the first time only in 2013, while experts said that the image could not be identified. As a result, the migration authorities referred to some classified evidence of Akhmed's involvement in terrorists, refusing to provide it to either the native of Chechnya himself or the court. In the fall of 2024, he tried to find out from the criminal police what claims law enforcement officers had against him, but the police officer himself canceled the planned conversation, citing a ban from his superiors, while wishing Akhmed "to achieve justice."

In January 2025, armed security forces searched Akhmed's home, and he was taken in handcuffs first to a police station, then to a detention center in a neighboring town, and later to a deportation prison in Vienna. The staff of this institution left him with only a mattress for use, confiscating other things that prisoners are entitled to - dishes, a pillow, and a blanket. Despite the cold in the cell, he was never given a blanket, was not given the opportunity to call his family or contact a lawyer. One of the prison employees told Akhmed: "It's too late, no one can help you anymore."

The native of Chechnya was also denied walks. For food, he was given soup in a plastic bowl and bread, but they refused to give him a spoon; Akhmed did not want to "eat like an animal" and remained hungry. During a brief walk out into the corridor, he noticed a piece of paper on the door of his cell with the inscription “Terrorist”: according to Akhmed, this is how his status was designated for the prison staff.

Three days later, Akhmed was brought to the airport in handcuffs and handed over to Georgian special services - due to the lack of direct flights to Russia, deportations are carried out through third countries, including Georgia and Azerbaijan. In Tbilisi, he was transferred to a flight to Moscow, at Sheremetyevo Airport, Russian security forces interrogated him until the morning, asking about other Chechens living in Europe, as well as Ukrainians. A month later, Akhmed left Russia again, together with a lawyer, he is preparing a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. The refusal to grant Ahmed's wife Austrian citizenship was motivated by the fact that she "lives with a person accused of links to terrorism."

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