Russia expelled an Afghan woman who fled the country from the Taliban. At home, she was forced to marry

A court in the Leningrad region ruled to expel from Russia the family of a girl from Afghanistan who fled the country from the Taliban militants who tried to forcibly marry her. Attention to such a court decision (it was made in early July), drew Russian service of the BBC.

A young woman M. (her full name was not disclosed) and her family were detained on July 1 in Vyborg – she wanted to move from Russia to Finland. Russian security officials detained them for their illegal stay in the border zone (part 1.1 of article 18.2 of the Administrative Code).

The very next day after the arrest, on June 2, the Vyborg court found M. guilty of violating the border regime in the border zone and fined 500 rubles. As noted by the lawyer of the network “Migration and Law” Yuri Serov, who defends the Afghan woman, expulsion is not a mandatory measure under Art. 18.2 of the Administrative Code, however, M.’s family was still first placed in a temporary detention center for foreign citizens, and then sent to Kabul.

The protection of the Afghan woman opposed her deportation to her homeland, referring to the “unfavorable situation” in the republic. The lawyers also stressed that the expulsion of the girl from Russia threatens her life and health. On July 1, the judge refused to satisfy the complaint of the defenders, explaining this by the absence of “proper evidence of a real danger” in the case file.

In addition, the judge noted that M. had not applied for asylum in Russia before her arrest. Olga Tseitlina, a lawyer for the Migration and Law network, who also defended the family, said that the Afghan girl’s family applied for asylum in Russia in June, but was refused.

As a result, the girl herself, her elderly parents and relatives – two men, three women and a 12-year-old girl – were expelled from Russia. According to the lawyer, the women and the child were sent to Kabul separately from the men: “We do not know what will happen to the women – after all, they flew to Kabul on the eve of the coup without the support of men, but fled from the danger of forced marriage.”