Armenia granted refugee status to a drug evader wanted in Belarus

Armenian authorities provided refugee status for citizen of Belarus Yaroslav Novikov, wanted in his homeland for evading military service.

Novikov left his country in the spring of 2023. On February 2 of this year, he was detained in Armenia at the request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, which put the evader on the interstate wanted list of the CIS. An Armenian court arrested Novikov for 40 days for subsequent extradition. After this, the detainee applied for political asylum.

The Mediazona publication notes that Novikov did not want to serve in the Belarusian army, fearing that it might be drawn into aggression against Ukraine, and not wanting to participate in this.

Earlier, a court in Yerevan refused to extradite to Russia a native of Chechnya, Salman Mukaev, who was tortured in his homeland due to suspicion of homosexuality. Mukaev was granted asylum and given refugee status as a person who faces repression in his homeland.

• Previously Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly reported about mass surveillance in Armenia of Russian citizens who left their country for political reasons. In December, Dmitry Setrakov, a former military man who had evaded participation in the war against Ukraine, was detained in Armenia by Russian military police. He was taken to the territory of the Russian military base in Gyumri, after which he was taken to Russia. This is the first known case of this kind. In April, Russian deserter Anatoly Shchetinin was detained and taken to a base in Gyumri. At the same time, the Armenian border guards did not let him cross the border into Russia, and he is still at the base.