A court in St. Petersburg overturned the order to deport Afghan journalist Kobra Hassani to her homeland

The Krasnoselsky District Court of St. Petersburg overturned the order to deport the Afghan journalist Kobra Hassani to her homeland, satisfying the complaint of her defense, reported . the court’s press service

The court concluded that Hassani’s forced deportation to Afghanistan is impossible, since she is subject to a preventive measure in the form of a written undertaking not to leave.

In addition, the court decided that the journalist can no longer be held in the Detention Center for Foreign Citizens (TSVSIG), where she spent more than eight months. “The long-term detention of Hassani in the TsVSIG, despite the fact that the period of further detention has not been determined, must be considered as an excessive restriction of her rights and freedoms,” the press service said in a statement.

On February 13, the Kirovsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Hassani to two years in a penal colony in the case of attempted illegal border crossing and released her in the courtroom. The punishment was considered served, taking into account the time the journalist spent in a pre-trial detention center.

Today, Hassani’s defense appealed the decision in the administrative case of May 24 about the girl’s stay in St. Petersburg without documents (part 3.1, article 18.8 of the Administrative Code). Then the court fined Hassani 5 thousand rubles and decided to expel her from Russia. The court did not cancel the fine.

On the day the verdict in the criminal case was announced, the decision to expel Hassani was not announced. The journalist's defense feared that the girl would be sent to Afghanistan, where she would be in mortal danger.

Hassani left Afghanistan shortly after the Taliban came to power - before that she worked on local television, fought for women's rights and owned her own restaurant. At first, the girl fled to Ukraine, but after the start of the war, due to ignorance of the language and dishonesty of the carriers, she ended up in Russia.

In total, 14 people were involved in the case of attempted illegal border crossing. According to the prosecution, Belarusian citizen Alexander Matsulevich agreed with an FSB border service officer to transport people to Europe by sea from St. Petersburg, and a group of refugees was gathered by Afghan Gulam Jelani, who lived in Moscow.

The court sentenced Matsulevich to four years in a maximum security colony. Jelani and the other defendants received two years in prison, after which they were released.