In December, Nettavisen mentioned the news that a bomb-convicted expelled Russian citizen was arrested on the border with Norway. He was charged with illegally entering the country, but this case was dropped.
On Wednesday, the Police’s immigration unit (PU) wanted him interned at Trandum in Ullensaker municipality, waiting for him to be deported from Norway. On 30 January, it was decided to deport him from Norway to Croatia.
The 22-year-old is represented by lawyer Javeed Shah. He has had a number of major criminal cases and argued vehemently for the Russian to be released, which the Oslo district court upheld.
Also read: PST found a picture of the accused 17-year-old posing with a weapon
– It has been hell
However, the Russian will not be released any time soon because of so-called suspending effect. Simply explained, this means that he is detained until a final decision is made. Most likely, the police will appeal to the Borgarting Court of Appeal.
– The district court has reached the right decision when they have taken into account all aspects of the case. I explained his history and what he has been through. Furthermore, I think the district court has reached the right decision when you look at his situation today. He feels that Norway will disclaim responsibility for the Norwegian state wrongfully sending him back to Russia, says lawyer Shah to Nettavisen.
In the ruling from the Oslo District Court, it is stated that the release was decided under doubt.
It has not been successful for Nettavisen to make contact with police attorney Kristian Kaspersen.
The reason why the police want the Russian detained is that they fear that he will evade deportation.
It was in 2019 that the 22-year-old was deported from Norway and sent to Russia after he was finally sentenced in 2018 to a ten-month suspended sentence in the Supreme Court for handling explosives.
– The last three years have been no life. It has been hell, the Russian citizen said in court.
In 2017, he was caught in Greenland in the center of Oslo with a bomb object. In the verdicts against the man, it is stated that the bomb had a limited potential for damage.
Also read: Former NRK profile testifies in trial of Russian Islamist convicted of bombing
In a graded threat assessment from the Police Security Service (PST) from 2018, which Nettavisen has previously gained access to and discussed, they state that he is a radicalized Islamist and that he posed a danger to Norway’s fundamental interests. Some of the content of the threat assessment was used as a basis when the Ministry of Justice decided in 2019 to deport him.
The decision states, among other things:
“PST considers it likely that in the future he will commit similar, and more serious acts than what he was arrested for on 8 April 2017. PST has stated that the foreigner has been observed several times with key figures in the extreme Islamist the environment in Oslo, and that he is considered to have become part of this environment. PST believes that the foreigner sees Norway as an enemy.”
Nettavisen has not succeeded in getting comments from PST in this case.
– Kidnapped several times
During the bomb trial in Oslo District Court in 2017, it became known that the 22-year-old had been in contact with and knew the extreme Islamist Arfan Bhatti and other people in the extreme Islamist environment in Eastern Norway.
Bhatti is today charged with the terror attack in Oslo in June where two people were shot and killed. The extreme Islamist is also internationally wanted.
Before the expulsion was effected, he sued Norway, but lost in the Oslo district court. The judgment states that there was no real risk of torture or inhumane treatment if he was sent back to, for example, Moscow, the capital of Russia.
Also read: The accused 17-year-old searched for “Islamic State” over 200 times on the internet
In the court session on Wednesday, the Russian gave an insight into how he had felt after being returned to Russia. According to the 22-year-old, it was officers from PST who physically handed him over to the infamous man Russian security service FSB.
– I have experienced many things, torture, kidnapping and other forms of mistreatment after I came to Russia. I have been kidnapped six times and tortured several times, the man claimed in court.
– What type of torture were you subjected to? Shah asked.
– Electrical torture, suffocation and physical abuse.
Normally there is a ban on minutes from such court hearings, but Nettavisen had this revoked and can therefore reproduce his explanation.
The 22-year-old also claimed that the FSB sent him from Moscow to Chechnya. Here he is said to have been subjected to further mistreatment.
– I have physical and mental illnesses because of the torture I have experienced. I have muscle problems due to electric torture and I have anxiety. Especially when I meet people I don’t know, he said.
The Russian also told of a dramatic journey from Russia via Turkey to Croatia and by bus on through Slovenia, Denmark and Sweden before he arrived in Norway.
– I do not want to be sent to a place where I am tortured and mistreated, as I was after my deportation to Russia.
I want my life back
When he was arrested on the border with Norway in December, he himself notified the Norwegian authorities that he was on his way from Sweden. It was lawyer Shah who informed the East police district on behalf of the Russian. The PST was then immediately notified.
– The police think I want to avoid deportation. If that were the case, I would not have notified the Norwegian authorities that I was on my way. I didn’t come here to avoid punishment or anything. I came to Norway to get my life back.
Now he risks being sent out again, but first to Croatia, which is considered the first safe country he came to in Europe after fleeing Russia.
Also read: PST: The 17-year-old accused of terrorism is said to have looked up “bombing” and “infidelity” on the internet
Before the Russian citizen was deported from Norway in 2019, several experts warned in Nettavisen against sending him back to Russia and stated that he risked being subjected to torture and inhumane treatment.
– In court, I documented through a letter to the Helsinki Committee that he will not receive fair treatment in Croatia. It will not be a substantive procedure and they have signaled that he will be sent back to Russia. Thus he does not get the protection he needs, says Shah very firmly.
– The Norwegian authorities are fully aware of this. Therefore, I am very surprised that he has received a deportation order to send him to Croatia. A country that can quite realistically send him on to Russia. Then he will risk further torture.
PST: Sympathizing with terrorist group
But in the graded threat assessment from 2018, which Nettavisen has gained access to, it says:
“PST believes the foreigner poses a threat to fundamental national interests. PST believes he is radicalised, that he sympathizes with (terrorist group, editor’s note) ISIL and that he has a mindset that suggests he supports the use of violence to achieve political goals.”
The 22-year-old came to Norway in 2010 as a ten-year-old. His two parents and two siblings were granted asylum on the grounds that they were ethnic Ingush and Muslim and in need of protection.
Although it was assessed that they did not need protection, the whole family received a residence permit in 2011. This was extended and in November 2015 they were granted permanent residence.
