On October 28, a demonstration took place in front of the Romanian Embassy in Austria against the deportation of Chechen Amina Gerikhanova at the request of Russia. Previously, similar actions with the participation of representatives of human rights organizations and the Chechen diaspora took place in several European cities.
36-year-old Gerikhanova is accused in Russia of participating in illegal armed groups in Syria. According to her, her husband was killed in Syria, and she herself, fleeing persecution by Kadyrov’s men, went to Ukraine in 2016 and lived there in Kyiv and Lvov. The Ukrainian security service knew about the Interpol search carried out at the request of Russia, however, not finding confirmation of the accusations, it refused to extradite her to her homeland. On March 13, Amina, along with her 8-year-old son, was detained at the border with Romania while trying to leave Ukraine.
The woman was separated from her child and, by decision of the Romanian court, they intended to hand him over to Russia. Thanks to the intervention of human rights activists, the ECHR suspended the extradition. The woman is currently in extradition prison. Her son was placed in an orphanage and then transferred to the care of his great-uncle Amruddi Bakharchiev, who had lived in Austria for a long time.
On September 22, it became known that the Romanian police are threatening to extradite a refugee to Russia, even contrary to the recommendations of the ECHR. On October 16 in Vienna, representatives of the Chechen diaspora and employees of the human rights organization Amnesty International, which provided Gerikhanova with a lawyer, held a picket demanding that Gerikhanova not be extradited to Russia, where she faces serious danger due to trumped-up charges.
Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Akhmed Zakayev, while in Ukraine at the Forum of Representatives of the Occupied Peoples of Russia, called on the delegates to appeal to the Romanian authorities with a request to release the Chechen refugee and not hand her over to Russia.
“This is already a legal chaos. There is a decision of the European Court on her release. Simply, without any explanation, this woman was detained, separated from her child, and for all these several months she has been practically in prison,” said Akhmed Zakaev.
Rallies with the same demand were held in October in Ireland, France, and Germany.
Gerikhanova’s son took part in the last action on October 28 in Vienna; he held a banner “Give me back my mother.” Other demonstrators chanted “Free Amina!” and held posters “Freedom for Amina Gerikhanova”, “Russia is an evil empire”.