WRITTEN QUESTION E-2603/03 by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Council. Risk of deportation of leading Chechen from France to the Russian Federation.
Date: 2003-08-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: France, Russia, competence of the Member States, removal, right of asylum

C 65 E/182

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

13.3.2004

(2004/C 65 E/198)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2603/03

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Council

(20 August 2003)

Subject: Risk of deportation of leading Chechen from France to the Russian Federation

According to information gathered by the Chechnya Committee, Mr Rouslan Maigov, his wife and their
four children have applied for asylum in France. Mr Rouslan Maigov is the brother of Aslambek Maigov,
the Moscow representative of the Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov. Mr Rouslan Maigov has been
arrested and beaten up several times in Russia and Chechnya. When last arrested in December 2001, a
ransom of RUB 160 000 was paid to secure his release. Mr Rouslan Maigov is under particular threat for
carrying cassettes in which President Maskhadov conveyed his orders to Mr Maigov’s brother. Nevertheless,
OFPRA (the French Refugee Office) followed by the appeal committee have rejected the application by
Mr Rouslan Maigov and his family for asylum in France on the grounds that if Mr Aslambek Maigov is in
Moscow without, apparently, being under threat, his brother Rouslan and his family could live in Russia.
The argument put forward by the competent French authorities obviously does not take account of the
arrests and maltreatment to which the Russian authorities have subjected Mr Rouslan Maigov in the past
or the obvious ‘interest’ which the Russian authorities have shown in Mr Rouslan Maigov, or the fact that
it is unfortunately the current practice in Russia to subject the members of leading Chechens’ families to
threats, intimidation and violence by way of a warning. Finally, Mr Rouslan Maigov, his wife and four
children will be expelled from the reception centre for asylum-seekers at Marseilles in the next few days
and will be forced to leave the country.

Is the Council aware of the situation of Mr Rouslan Maigov and his family? Does the Council consider that
the decision by the competent French authorities is consistent with the common rules on the right of
asylum laid down in the Schengen agreements? In more general terms, given the serious threats to which
Chechens in the Russian Federation are subjected, does the Council not consider that it should take
emergency measures to block any decision to expel Chechens living in the countries which are signatories
to the Schengen agreements?

Reply

(17 November 2003)

The Council cannot intervene in individual asylum applications in the Member States, or in other
individual cases such as those referred to in the question

(2004/C 65 E/199)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2626/03

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(2 September 2003)

Subject: Call for review of the Lhasa urban development plan

The committee overseeing implementation of the Unesco Convention Concerning the Protection of the
World Cultural and Natural Heritage has urged the Chinese authorities to review their urban development
plan for Lhassa, the capital of Tibet. The decision was taken during the 27th session of the Unesco World
Heritage Committee, held in Paris from 30 June to 5 July 2003. The committee made a series of
recommendation to the Chinese authorities, with a view to mitigating the negative impact on the World
Heritage values of this property caused by development pressures and called for the implementation of a
national policy for the protection of the remaining historic traditional buildings in Lhasa. In 2002 the
Chinese authorities demolished historic Tibetan houses in Lhasa (www.savetibet.org/News), raising serious
concerns about Beijing’s commitment to fulfil its obligations to the Unesco Convention. The committee
also called for demolition to be stopped, ‘particularly in the Shol area’. Shortly afterwards, experts from
Unesco and Icomos (International Council on Monuments and Sites) conducted missions to Lhasa in
October 2002 and April 2003 respectively.