Chechen refugees suspend their hunger strike at Croatian deportation camp

The staff of the deportation camp in Croatia and the supervisory authorities have ignored the hunger strike held by the refugees from Chechnya seeking political asylum in this country. The hunger strike was suspended due to the absence of any authorities' reaction and deterioration of hunger-strikers' health condition, an activist of the "Assembly of European Chechens" has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 16, 2023, it became known that a Croatian court had refused to grant international protection and political refugee status to five natives of Chechnya, motivating the refusal by stating that they might be "Islamic extremists." On April 24, human rights defenders reported that six natives of Chechnya were on hunger strike in the deportation camp in Croatia.

Ten days after declaring a hunger strike at the above camp, refugees from Chechnya decided to suspend their protest due to the absence of authorities' reaction and deteriorating of their health condition, said Isa Daduev, a member of the "Assembly of European Chechens". According to his story, one of the hunger-strikers fell down the stairs after losing consciousness and received traumas.

Mr Daduev has noted that refugees from Chechnya are waiting for court decisions. "If nothing changes, most likely they will renounce political refugee status, hoping that they will be deported not to Russia, but to the nearest countries – Bosnia or Turkey," he has added.

Let us remind you that on November 7, 2022, it became known that Croatian law enforcers had detained in at least 15 natives of Chechnya, who had arrived from Russia, and used violence, demanding to refuse from their asylum requests.