A Russian artist was deported from Georgia to Armenia after requesting asylum.
Unknown civilians drove Konstantin Rachkovsky, a Russian citizen who had requested asylum in Georgia, out of the village of Martkopi, where a migrant camp is located, in a car. Within hours, he was deported to Armenia, while Rachkovsky's wife remained in Georgia.
Russian artist Konstantin Rachkovsky was detained in Georgia on March 2 while applying for asylum. Around midday, he submitted his asylum application in the village of Martkopi, after which he went intocommunicado.
Unknown civilians drove Rachkovsky out of the Martkopi migration center, where asylum seekers are awaiting a decision, Yulia Arkhipova, an expert with the Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights, told the Caucasian Knot.
"Konstantin was not provided with an interpreter, nor was he told where he was being taken or for what purpose. His lawyer and family are not being provided with information. The Human Rights Commissioner in Georgia refused to intervene in the situation, as did the UNHCR in Georgia and UN partners. The Migration Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia is not answering calls," Arkhipova explained.
The Russian citizen's lawyer, Svetlana Shkryabay, appealed to the ECHR with a request to apply interim measures to defer deportation against Rachkovsky under Rule 39, but by the evening of March 2, Konstantin was back in Armenia. "At the moment, Konstantin is already in Armenia; he was deported—that's a fact; he is no longer in Georgia. This is the situation we have," she told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
Konstantin's wife, Yulia, who remains in Georgia, confirmed that Rachkovsky has been in Armenia since the evening of March 2. "They tried to get rid of him in a very hasty and hasty manner, perhaps after seeing his legal defense and the publicity on social media. They forced him to sign [the deportation agreement] to Armenia, undermining everything: his phone was confiscated, no one could contact him, neither I nor his lawyer. He also heard a Russian asylum seeker being forced to sign in the next room, threatening him with deportation to Russia. As a result, not really understanding the situation and fearing a long prison sentence, Kostya signed his agreement to Armenia," Rachkovsky's wife told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
According to Yulia Arkhipova, the association will appeal Rachkovsky's ban on entry to Georgia and will continue to insist on the application of Rule 39 of the ECHR Rules of Procedure.
“A stable family unit has been broken up, and the right to seek asylum has been violated. They wanted to apply for asylum one after the other because they had doubts about whether it would be granted, which were confirmed. The Georgian authorities have completely and utterly violated what is a sacred cow of the law: if you seek asylum, it cannot be replaced by detention and deportation. This circus instead of asylum is beyond the pale of any possible violation. We are currently arranging for Konstantin to be housed in Armenia, but we will be returning him to Georgia, although the appeal process will take more than one day,” Arkhipova concluded.
"Caucasian Knot" also wrote that, in Georgia, Mikhail Timofeev, a 60-year-old Russian citizen who is involved in the case of former Khabarovsk Krai Governor Sergei Furgal and has been arrested in absentia, has been detained. According to the defense, Georgian authorities ignored the position of authoritative international organizations on Timofeev's case, refusing to consider his persecution political, and arrested him based on a quashed Interpol request.