Opinion ID: 4115312
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Asylum Application and Merits Hearing

Text: Petitioner applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief, alleging that he feared returning to Albania on account of his political opinion. 2 Case: 16-10131 Date Filed: 01/12/2017 Page: 3 of 14 Specifically, he averred that he had experienced harm and mistreatment in Albania due to his participation in the Democratic Party. The IJ conducted a merits hearing on Petitioner’s application at which Petitioner and his aunt testified. According to Petitioner, he feared returning to Albania because of his involvement with the Democratic Party. In 2013, he assisted the Democratic Party with its campaign against the Socialist Party because the Democratic Party promised him a job in exchange for his participation. The Democratic Party sought out Petitioner’s participation in hopes of obtaining the votes of Petitioner’s family members. While walking home from a Democratic Party meeting on June 23, 2013, Petitioner was stopped by four people wearing masks. They threatened him and his family, and then beat him until he was unconscious. Two of his friends later found him and took him home. Because the individuals wore masks, Petitioner could not see their faces but he knew they were civilians. Petitioner was able to identify one of the attackers by “his voice” as Vetar Lipo, a militant of the Socialist Party at the time of the attack. He believed that each of the attackers were “active with the government” because of the “nature of [their] threats” and because “they were delivering food in exchange for the poor people’s vote for the Socialist Party.” 3 Case: 16-10131 Date Filed: 01/12/2017 Page: 4 of 14 As a result of the attack, Petitioner sustained injuries to his chest, leg, hand, and head. The next day, he went to the village doctor, who referred him to the hospital. He did not go to the hospital, however, because he could not afford the treatment. Instead, Petitioner’s mother and grandmother treated him with folk medicine. Following the Democratic Party’s loss in the 2013 election, Petitioner’s father lost his job. Petitioner learned the day before the merits hearing that his mother had also lost her job. Petitioner stated that his parents lost their jobs following the 2013 and 2015 elections because his family never voted for the Socialist Party. Petitioner feared arrest, torture, and death at the hands of the Albanian police and government, which were controlled by the Socialist Party. Petitioner’s aunt Etleva Lilo testified regarding the June 2013 attack and about the political and economic conditions in Albania. Lilo stated that when her sister, Petitioner’s mother, called to tell her that Petitioner had been attacked, her sister explained that Petitioner did not go to the hospital because of political and economic reasons. She further stated that her sister lost her job because she did not vote for the Socialist Party.