Statement by Alexander Gnezdilov, Deputy Chairperson of the YABLOKO party, 01.02.2016

The refusal of the Federal Migration Service of Russia to grant a political asylum to the citizen of the DPRK, who will face death penalty in North Korea in case he is deported home, raises deep concern.

Unfortunately, the Russian officials turned out to be not that humane towards the person who had escaped form the dectatorship twice than, for example, towards former CIA agent Edward Snowden. In case with Snowden, the possibility of the death penalty under the USA court verdict turned out to be a weighty argument to rapidly grant him the political asylum in Russia.

As one can see, the Russian public officials have more trust for the justice system of Kim Jong-un’s regime: since the Korean who had escaped to Russia “failed to prove demonstratively that he will be executed in case he is back home”, the Directorate of the Federal Migration Service decided that “there are no humane reasons with respect to the applicant that require to grant him the possibility to temporarily stay in the Russian Federation”.

Yet, according to the representative of the Civil Assistance committee Elena Burtina, the citizen of North Korea who lay a claim for a political asylum in Russia is an orphan who escaped from North Korea to China because of hunger when he was underaged, he was living in China illegally for about ten years, he was detained and deported, sent to a camp in North Korea, escaped from the camp in 2013 and crossed the Russian border. Today it is already a third time when our authorities refuse to grant him the asylum, though earlier the court had cancelled the decision and farwarded the case to the Federal Migration Service for reconsideration.

The granting of a political asylum is a most important humanitarian institution and an instrument for human rights protection. There is no room for selectivity, double standards and political preferences in such cases.

I ask the Federal Migration Service of Russia to take humanity as guide and to reasonably consider the hazard to life of the DPRK citizen in case he is extradited to one of the blackest dictatorships in the world. It is crucially important that the Russian Federation must always and in every way adhere to the humanistic standards and show humanity both towards the citizens of Russia and those who are looking for an asylum in our country on politcal grounds.

Alexander Gnezdilov,
Deputy Chairperson of the YABLOKO party