NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

MUSHEGH PARUNAKYAN; et al.,

 Petitioners,

 v.

DANA J. BOENTE, Acting Attorney 

General,

Respondent.

No.13-70367

Agency Nos.A097-359-658

A097-359-659

A097-359-660

A097-359-661

A097-359-662

MEMORANDUM*

On Petition for Review of an Order of the

Board of Immigration Appeals

Argued and Submitted December 7, 2016

Pasadena, California

Before: PREGERSON, TASHIMA, and CALLAHAN, Circuit Judges.

Petitioner Mushegh Parunakyan, a native and citizen of Armenia, seeks 

review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“Board”) decision dismissing his 

appeal of an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) order denying his applications for asylum, 

withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture 

 * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent 

except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

FILED

FEB 7 2017

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
2 

(“CAT”).

Parunakyan contends that the Board erred in finding that he did not qualify 

for an exception to the requirement that an asylum-seeker file his application 

within one year of entering the United States. 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(2)(B); 8 C.F.R. 

§ 208.4(a)(5). �e temporal requirement may be waived in “extraordinary 

circumstances,” including, inter alia, where the applicant files within a reasonable 

period of time after the expiration of his lawful immigrant status. 8 C.F.R. 

§ 208.4(a)(5)(iv). Parunakyan entered the United States in January 1999, but did 

not seek asylum until October 2003. �is was nearly nine months after his H-1B 

visa had expired and approximately four months after his employer had withdrawn 

a visa renewal application. For the purpose of deciding this petition, we assume 

without deciding that Parunakyan’s delay may fit within the “extraordinary 

circumstances” exception and resolve the case on the merits.

�e Board denied Parunakyan relief based on an adverse credibility 

determination. We apply the pre-REAL ID Act standard for credibility 

determinations because Parunakyan filed his application before the REAL-ID Act 

took efect on May 11, 2005. Kaur v. Gonzales, 418 F.3d 1061, 1064 n.1 (9th Cir. 

2005). We uphold the Board’s credibility determination if it is based on

inconsistencies that “go to the heart of the asylum claim.” Li v. Ashcroft, 378 F.3d 

959, 962 (9th Cir. 2004) (internal quotation marks omitted).
3 

Several inconsistencies go to the heart of Parunakyan’s claim. For example, 

despite testifying that he led the Armenian opposition candidate’s youth outreach 

eforts and otherwise campaigned for him, Parunakyan could not recount any 

specific policies or goals of the youth campaign or the candidate’s political 

platform. Moreover, Parunakyan’s account of the circumstances surrounding his 

March 16, 1998 election day beating shifted over time. In his narrative statement, 

Parunakayan stated that he was at the opposition’s “central headquarters” in 

Yerevan on the day of the election, but before the IJ he testified that he was at a 

polling station in Abovian in the Kotyk district. Parunakyan’s explanation that 

every district has a headquarters was deemed incredible because Parunakyan had 

previously stated that the central headquarters was located in Yerevan. Moreover, 

Parunakyan’s explanation does not resolve the conflict of whether he was at a 

polling station or the campaign’s headquarters (be it a district or central 

headquarters). Parunakyan also testified that he was issued a medical certificate 

upon being discharged from the hospital in March 1998 after he was beaten by progovernment forces, but the profered medical certificate postdates the incident by

more than five years. 

In sum, Parunakyan’s recounting of the facts surrounding his alleged 

participation in opposition politics and resulting mistreatment—facts that go to the 

heart of his asylum claim—were either vague or inconsistent. See Li, 378 F.3d at 
4 

962. �e Board therefore reasonably denied his asylum application.

Because we hold that Parunakyan does not satisfy the standard of proof for 

asylum, he cannot meet the more demanding standard for withholding of removal, 

and so that claim similarly fails. See Lanza v. Ashcroft, 389 F.3d 917, 933 (9th Cir.

2004).

Finally, Parunakyan’s CAT claim is based on the same testimony the Board

deemed incredible, and the adverse credibility determination undermines any 

contention that he is likely to be detained and tortured upon returning to Armenia. 

�e Board therefore reasonably a�rmed the IJ’s denial of Parunakyan’s petition 

for CAT relief.

PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.
1

Parunakyan v. Lynch, No. 13-70367

PREGERSON, Circuit Judge, dissenting:

I dissent. I believe that each of the purported inconsistencies cited by the IJ 

can be explained away or are so trivial that they should not be the basis for denying 

Parunakyan’s application. 

In 1999, Mushegh Parunakyan fled political persecution in his native 

Armenia in search of a better life in the United States. After he obtained 

employment and a work visa, Parunakyan’s wife, Aida, and three young children,

Levon, Shoghik, and Karolina, joined him in the U.S. In 2003, Parunakyan was 

not able to renew his work visa, and he promptly filed for asylum, withholding of 

removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). He was 

denied all relief and the government has, as of yet, declined to exercise 

prosecutorial discretion. 

Parunakyan and his family have built a new life in the U.S. Now, for the 

second time in 17 years, the family will be uprooted and forced to start over. 

Parunakyan’s now-adult children, who are products of our education system and 

members of our community, will be sent to a country that is foreign to them. We 

should not deny them the opportunity to use their talents in the country they call 

home. 

I decline to be a party to this unkind result. 

FILED

FEB 7 2017

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS