EXTERNALAI Index: EUR 18/02/96

8 August 1996

Further information on EXTRA 76/96 (EUR 18/01/96, 21 May 1996) - Fear of refoulement

DENMARKAnna Mkrtychan and Alexander Mkrtychan, asylum-seekers from Chechnya

The Danish Section of Amnesty International has confirmed that AnnaMkrtychan and Alexander Mkrtychan have been granted humanitarian leave to remain in Denmark. Alexander Mkrtychan is known to be quite ill.

Amnesty International wishes to thank all those who sent appeals on behalf of the Mkrtychans. Their legal representative and AI Denmark believe that these appeals removed the risk of forcible return to the Russian authorities. Anna Mkrtychan has written to Amnesty International thanking it for its intervention in this case. Although this action is now being closed, you may wish to write final letters to emphasise the general points mentioned below. Thereafter, no further appeals are required.

Final letters may be sent to the authorities listed in the previous update:

- welcoming the fact that Anna Mkrtychan and Alexander Mkrtychan have been granted humanitarian leave to remain in Denmark;

- reminding the Danish authorities that Amnesty International's work for refugees derives directly from its mandate to prevent human rights violations and specifically toprevent the forcible return (refoulement) of any person to a country where he or she risks torture, "disappearance", execution or imprisonment as a prisoner of conscience.

- pointing out that the harassment of members of ethnic minorities, especially those from the Caucasus and including those from the Chechen Republic, is a continuing phenomenon in the Russian Federation.