Human rights activists demanded the release of migrants who cannot be deported from Russia due to coronavirus

Human rights activists called on the Russian authorities to take urgent measures to release from temporary detention centers for foreign citizens (TSVSIG) migrants who cannot be deported from the country due to the coronavirus.

“This decision must be made urgently without bureaucratic red tape as a measure to protect the life and health of people in TsVSIGs, where it is not possible to organize a full-fledged protection system and effective medical care. We believe that such a measure will serve the common goal of preventing the spread of the epidemic in the Central Military Districts and beyond,” the human rights activists’ letter says.

The letter was signed by the chairman of the “Civic Assistance” committee Svetlana Gannushkina, the chairman of the board of the human rights center “Memorial” Alexander Cherkasov, the leader of the movement “For Human Rights” Lev Ponomarev, the chairman of the executive committee of the Forum of Resettlement Organizations Lidiya Grafova, the expert of the anti-discrimination center “Memorial” Stefania Kulaeva, a participant in the regional expert group on migrant health Daniil Kashnitsky.

Member of the Human Rights Council Tatyana Merzlyakova also spoke about the problem of deportation of foreign citizens from Russia. She said that due to the suspension of air traffic due to the pandemic, foreigners subject to forcible deportation remained in special institutions for an unknown time and their entire families were waiting for the opportunity to return home.