Uzbek refugee found under administrative arrest

We reported yesterday that there were fears that Uzbekistan national Dilshod Kurbanov, previously granted temporary asylum in the Russian Federation after his extradition was halted by the European Court of Human Rights, had been abducted.

Human rights groups and the UNHCR were able today, 8 February, to ascertain that he had been detained on 6 February at a bus station in the Rostov region when police stopped him to check his documents. The police officers claim that he did not comply with their demands (Article 19.3 § 1 of the RF Code of Administrative Offences) and on the basis of this a magistrate on 8 February sentenced him to 4 days administrative arrest, inclusive of the two days already in custody.

While it is a relief that he remains in Russia in relative safety, the situation continues to cause concern. As explained in the article yesterday, the authorities are stopping him and others leaving the country even though safe third countries have come forward, while at the same time he was forced to leave his wife and home in Mordovia because he is unable to work there.