Swiss authorities denied political asylum to a refugee from Chechnya

A Swiss court has repeatedly refused to grant political asylum to Ali Batayev, a native of Chechnya. He faces deportation to the Russian Federation, where he may be subjected to torture.

According to the court's decision, Batayev did not provide sufficient evidence of his persecution in Russia, and the overall human rights situation there "is not completely intolerable." The man said that if he is deported from Switzerland to the Russian Federation, he will face torture and death, since he is a critic of the Kadyrov regime in Chechnya.

In December 2023, Ali Batayev was released from a deportation prison in Switzerland. In 2022, he left Ukraine, where he received a residence permit. In September 2022, he was placed in a Swiss deportation center, and since then he has faced extradition to Russia. Batayev went on a hunger strike in protest, after which he required hospitalization.

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