Valentina Chupik, a migrant rights defender who runs the Sunrise of the World [‘Tong Jahoni’], a centre that provides free legal assistance to migrant individuals in Russia, has been held at an immigration centre at Sheremetevo airport in Mosow since 25 September 2021. When she arrived from Yerevan, Armenia, border patrol officers informed her she had violated border crossing regulations and that the Russian authorities had denied her refugee status on 17 September and banned her from entering Russia for 30 years. The officers confiscated Chupik’s travel document and detained her at Sheremetevo airport. She had no access to legal support. She was threatened with imminent forcible removal to Uzbekistan. Chupik has lived in Russia with refugee status since 2006.
Update from Amnesty International: Migrant rights defender Valentina Chupik was released from detention at the Sheremetevo airport in Moscow and was allowed to board a flight to Armenia on 2 October. She had been held in the transit lounge of the airport since 25 September, stripped of her refugee status in Russia and threatened with imminent forcible return to Uzbekistan, where she would have been at risk of human rights violations.
Sources:
RFE/RL, 27 September 2021: A migrant rights defender who has been held at an immigration detention center at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport since September 25 says she might be jailed and even killed while in custody if she is deported back to her native Uzbekistan. Valentina Chupik, who runs the migrant center Sunrise of the World in Moscow, told Current Time on September 27 that officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) informed her that she has been deprived of her refugee status since September 17 and banned from entering Russia for 30 years.
OMCT, 27 September 2021: The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH, has been informed about the arbitrary detention, illegal removal of refugee status, and risk of imminent deportation to Uzbekistan of Valentina Chupik, migrants’ rights defender and the head of the human rights organisation ‘Tong Jahoni’, a center providing free legal assistance to migrant individuals in Russia.
Human Rights Watch, 28 September 2021: Russian authorities have taken punitive action against three local human rights defenders and their organizations in recent days, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities imposed arbitrary, draconian bureaucratic penalties against the groups, including through the “undesirable foreign organizations” law in one case. […] On September 24, 2021, Russian border officials at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport barred Valentina Chupik from entering Russia. […] On September 23, the prominent human rights group Astreya received a copy of a petition, dated September 14, from the Justice Ministry to a court seeking to dissolve the group. […] On September 17, a court issued a 10,000 ruble (approximately US$137) fine to Igor Kalyapin, chair of the Russian Committee against Torture, claiming he had violated the law on “foreign undesirable organizations.”
FIDH, 28 September 2021: The Observatory has been informed about the arbitrary detention, illegal removal of refugee status, and risk of imminent deportation to Uzbekistan of Valentina Chupik, migrants’ rights defender and the head of the human rights organisation ‘Tong Jahoni’, a center providing free legal assistance to migrant individuals in Russia.
Front Line Defenders, 28 September 2021: On 25 September 2021, woman human rights defender Valentina Chupik was barred from returning to Russia, where she has resided with refugee status since 2006. Upon her arrival from Yerevan, Armenia, the Russian border patrol officers informed Valentina Chupik that she had violated border crossing regulations and informed her that Russian authorities had denied her refugee status which came into effect immediately. The patrol officers took away Valentina Chupik’s travel document and detained her in the “clean zone” of the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, where she currently remains with no access to legal support and is at risk of being deported to Uzbekistan.
FIDH, 30 September 2021: The Observatory has been informed about the death threats and ongoing arbitrary detention and risks of imminent deportation to Uzbekistan of Valentina Chupik, a migrants’ rights defender and the head of the human rights organisation ‘Tong Jahoni’, a center providing free legal assistance to migrant individuals in Russia.
Amnesty International, 30 September 2021: Valentina Chupik, a recognized refugee and migrant rights defender, has been held in the transit lounge at Sheremetevo airport in Moscow since 25 September. She has been told that she has been stripped of her refugee status, banned from Russia for 30 years, and is threatened with imminent forcible return to Uzbekistan. She must be immediately released and allowed to remain in Russia so that she can continue her work.
Amnesty International, 4 October 2021: Migrant rights defender Valentina Chupik was released from detention at the Sheremetevo airport in Moscow and was allowed to board a flight to Armenia on 2 October. She had been held in the transit lounge of the airport since 25 September, stripped of her refugee status in Russia and threatened with imminent forcible return to Uzbekistan, where she would have been at risk of human rights violations.
