[:it]ARCIGAY: "THE HUMAN RIGHTS ALARM IN PUTIN'S COUNTRY IS CONFIRMED"
Bologna, April 21, 2017 – “The Salerno court ruling granting refugee status to a young Russian gay man, assisted by the MigraAntinoo desk of Arcigay Naples, is excellent news, but it highlights two alarming facts,” said Gabriele Piazzoni, national secretary of Arcigay. He continues: "First, the ruling points to the blatant violation of human rights in Russia: a widespread phenomenon affecting homosexuals, the targets of repressive laws whose effects we are witnessing in the horrors underway in Chechnya, but also other minorities, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, who have just recently been the target of a ruling by the Russian Supreme Court that places them outside the law. This alarm remains completely ignored by institutional policy, which welcomes those fleeing persecution without assuming responsibility or a role with respect to those who force them to leave their homes. But the second alarming reflection arises precisely on the issue of reception: the approval of the Minniti-Orlando decree relegates asylum seekers to a lower order of justice, excluding the possibility of the judge questioning the person who submitted the application. It is therefore legitimate to ask, with great concern, whether through this new process the young Russian, once denied the opportunity to tell his story, would have obtained refugee status anyway. To this end, doubt, very serious, the institutions should feel the duty to respond without ambiguity", concludes Piazzoni.[:]
