A group of about 20 Russian nationals from Chechnya and Ingushetia was refused entry to Bosnia and Herzegovina after arriving at the Sarajevo International Airport and was returned to Turkey, Radio Free Europe reported.
Members of the group told this to the editorial office of Kavkaz.Realii, Radio Free Europe's service in the North Caucasus, after the plane they were on from Sarajevo landed in Istanbul on December 29.
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They intended to apply for political asylum in Croatia, as they left the Russian Federation to avoid mobilization for the war in Ukraine.
BiH Border Police could not provide more information about the group, but the day before, advisor to the director, Svevlad Hoffman, said that it was established that these persons “abuse the visa-free regime of BiH and Russia” and that they do not meet conditions for entering BiH.
The group arrived in Sarajevo on December 28. Their documents were confiscated and then members of the group, including small children, were kept locked up for almost a whole day.
They said they were kept in “a cold construction container” and were not provided with hot water for formula for feeding the children. One of them said that they left Russia because of the mobilization for the war with Ukraine. The Police told RSE that they were detained in order to check the reasons and justification for their entry into Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Hoffman said that they did not have return tickets, as one of the reasons why they were not allowed to enter BiH.
Osman Mulahalilovic, a lawyer in Bosnia and Herzegovina, says that the group had to be released if their right to life was threatened and that this was the case if they were fleeing war and mobilization.
“If BiH and Russia have a visa-free regime, they could enter. But they had to seek asylum in BiH, based on the fact that their right to life is threatened because their life is endangered. And yes, if someone wants to force them to go to war, that's a real threat, it's not an abstract threat,” said Mulahalilovic.
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