Austria deports Chechens who risk recruitment in Ukraine war

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Vienna: Austria is deporting Chechen asylum seekers back to the security ground, where they are at risk of being forced to fight in the Ukraine war, showing judicial documents viewed by AFP.

Authorities say they are at risk of “state security”, but rights groups say their deportation violates international law. Amnesty International has repeatedly called on European countries to stop the deportation of political asylum seekers and refugees from the Republic of the Muslim Republic in Russia, saying it “violates international human rights responsibilities”.

Chechen exile says they are unfairly associated with religious extremism. This year, Austria removed two checkens who applied for asylum after receiving a summons to report to the Russian army.

Vienna argues that they are not under the “credible” danger of drafting. According to Austrian officials, the two applicants are very old, who say they apply to Russian men at the age of just 18-30-controversial claims by groups of rights.

Officials also claimed that they could avoid being “settled in Moscow”. Authorities argued, “If they will be the result of a police investigation into terrorism” and on the basis of religious extremism, Chechen will undoubtedly “threaten national security” if they remain on the Austrian soil, without providing details, if they live on Austrian soil.

Since trade flights between the European Union and Russia have been deducted by Russia’s 2022 Ukraine sanctions, the country is being operated by aircraft via Serbia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Austria does not publish detailed statistics about Chechen emissions, which are either Russian citizens or state. The Austrian Interior Ministry did not answer questions through AFP. Although there has been no cooperation with Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, according to documents, “Moscow’s” lack of response to its deportation notices in Austria as a silent approval. “

Vienna -based Chechen activist Rosa Donifa complained, for many Austrian people, “Chechen automatically means terrorism”. He said that Chechen is also targeted because he “has rare sources to pay for a lawyer”.

But “authorities all over Europe are well aware, those who are deported can be recruited to fight in Ukraine” If their families do not pay a large amount, Donifa claimed, “whether they are 18 or 60 years old”.

In 2006, the European Union signed an agreement with Russia, which helped the return of convicted accused. Despite Brussels’s opposition to the Moscow attack on Ukraine, Austria has never questioned the deal.

After the killing of a school teacher in France by Chechen refugees in 2020, Austria set up a special police unit to monitor its Chechen community. In 2020, extraditions accelerated after Austria faced its first jihadist attack.

In 2024, Amnesty International called on Europe to prevent people from returning people to the Northern Caucasus states due to the “new threat to the armed forces”.

In the NGO, Russian expert Natalia Prattskaya told AFP that the human rights situation in Chechnya is so tough that “families are afraid to make these issues public”.

“There is no safe place for those returning anywhere in Russia,” he said. By being dynamic, all men are considered in the reserve, which is 70 years old. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned France for deporting Russia in 2022, citing Article Three of the European Convention, which prohibits violence.

He said that the protection under this agreement could not be forgiven by “even in the case of public threat” or “links with a terrorist organization”. There are about 250 250,000 Chechen exiled in Europe. According to official statistics, Austria – which is $ 9.2 million – out of 30,000 to 40,000. The small republic of the Northern Caucasus was destroyed by wars since the 1990s, and now it has been controlled by the Kremlin’s loyal Ramadan Kadirov, who has suppressed all opposition.