Austria-Czech Republic: Chechen refugee "spent ten weeks in Czech custody because he found himself in a legal vacuum outside Austria"
24 April 2017
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Austria-Czech Republic
Chechen refugee "spent ten weeks in Czech custody because he found himself in a legal vacuum outside Austria"
24.4.17
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"Ruslan Mukuschev, an ethnic Chechen with Austrian asylum who was recently arrested on a shopping trip to the Czech Republic...
Mukuschev, a 46-year-old father of five, who has been living in Vienna with the status of a political asylum holder and working as a judo coach, went shopping to Brno, south Moravia, by bus in January.
Immediately after crossing the border, the bus was halted by the Czech police who checked the passengers' documents. Unfortunately, Mukuschev forgot his asylum card at home and could only produce his Austrian driving licence, LN writes.
The police found out that Russia issued a warrant for his arrest several years ago. A Brno court decided that he be placed in a preliminary detention cell, where he spent ten weeks...
The court in Brno came to the conclusion that Austrian asylum is a sufficient reason for Czech courts not having to discuss Mukuschev's extradition to Russia.
Mukuschev spent ten weeks in Czech custody also because he found himself in a legal vacuum outside Austria. For the Czech court, he was still a Russian citizen, in spite of his long stay in Vienna. The Austrian authorities could not support him like they support Austrian citizens, since asylum holders do not enjoy their host country's full legal protection abroad, LN writes.
No international rules define the situations where refugees with asylum status are detained outside their host country, it writes."
Source: LN: Foreign asylum holders face legal vacuum in CR(Prague Daily Monitor, link)
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