ACTIVIST URGES AIR MALTA TO STOP ARMENIAN JOURNALIST’S DEPORTATION
David Vella
Malta Star, Malta
April 12 2007
"They told me Malta does not grant asylum", journalist tells
maltastar.com
In an attempt to stop authorities from deporting an Armenian journalist
back to her homeland, where she faces political oppression, a British
human rights activist, sent e-mails to various Air Malta offices
urging them not to fly the refugee to the country where her family’s
safety is threatened.
Gina Khachatryan, who was forced to leave her country in 2003 after
being threatened for revealing electoral fraud in her homeland,
has been refused political refuge in the UK and will be deported
back to Armenia, via Malta and Russia, on an Air Malta flight that
leaves the UK on Friday (13 April 2007). "She fears these threats
will be carried through if she is returned to Armenia" the activist,
Ian Pollock, wrote to the Maltese airline.
On Thursday, maltastar.com contacted Gina in her cell at the Yarl’s
Wood detention centre in Bedford. Noticeably distraught, she explained
that her family has no means to get any legal aid, and all the help
she is getting is from human rights activists.
"At the moment I am trying to send an urgent fax to the European
Court of Human Rights, in the hope that they’ll take action and stop
my deportation" she said. Gina had been granted refugee status in
2003, but the British authorities have not accepted to renew her
asylum status.
Numerous human right activists are working hard to keep Gina and her
family from entering Armenia. The couple’s daughter, Ellen, has spent
four years in England now. She attended a British primary school,
and knows nothing about her homeland.
In the meantime, even Gina is not well. She has been diagnosed with
anaemia, but results for blood tests to check whether or not she is
fit to travel, may not be issued before Gina is taken to the airport.
"I spoke to her this morning and she tells me she also feels nauseous
and feverish" Pollock, a former journalist, wrote in his appeal to
Air Malta.
Ordered to pack up in 30 minutes
On Easter Monday, police closed off the street in Salford, where Gina,
her husband, and their five year old daughter live, and ordered the
family to pack up and be ready to leave the house in 30 minutes,
an asylum seekers support group of which the journalist formed part
wrote. The family was immediately taken to a detention centre, where
she and her family will remain locked up until they are deported.
"We did not even have time to get Gina’s records to have more
information on her case" Sue Arnall, from Castaways Organisation,
told this e-newspaper.
A bitter 10 days in Malta
In Armenia, Gina worked as a television journalist. While covering
the 2003 elections, she uncovered a case of corruption by a candidate
that was eventually elected to Parliament. When she reported this
information, she was threatened by members of the MPs’ campaign
team, and arrested for 40 days. When her colleagues managed to get
her out of prison, she fled the country. On her way to the UK, in 11
September 2003, she arrived in Malta. "I remember we stayed in Malta
for 10 days", Gina told maltastar.com, "we had no money with us, and
we could only afford the hotel. Basically we could not even buy food".
And why didn’t she try to apply for refugee status in Malta? "On
the plane to Malta, a Bulgarian woman told me that Malta is a small
country and the authorities do not accept to give asylum to anyone".
So the family continued on their way to the UK.
Numerous British journalist organisations are also supporting Gina’s
cause, in the hope that she will not be repatriated.
"Please do not allow this woman and her family to be sent back to so
much uncertainty" the human rights activist wrote to Air Malta.
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