hankyoreh

Lee Jong-chan, a public interest attorney, speaks about Russian refugees and the issues with Korea’s response to them at a press conference held at Cheonggye Plaza in downtown Seoul on May 14, 2024. (Yonhap)

For the first time, a court recognized the refugee status of a Russian national who came to South Korea after refusing conscription to fight in the war in Ukraine.

As a reason for requesting refugee status, the Russian national in question explained that he had repeatedly expressed opposition to the war in demonstrations, which served as a basis for recognition of his status.

Judge Yun Seong-jin of the Seoul Administrative Court announced on Wednesday that his court had ruled in favor of the Russian on May 22 in a case filed to demand the overturning of the Seoul Immigration Office director’s decision to deny him refugee status.

“It was recognized that [the plaintiff] had sufficiently based fears that he would be subjected to persecution through violation of his freedoms or person in his home country [of Russia],” Yun said.

“The denial of his refugee status is in violation of the law and must be revoked,” he added.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian national posted opinions opposing the war on social networking sites and took part in demonstrations. After receiving a conscription notice, he left Russia in November of that year and arrived in South Korea.

In January 2023, he explained that he had “fled Russia to escape being conscripted into the war” and that he “could face punishment” if he returned. He applied for refugee status, but the South Korean government declined to grant it, claiming that “participation in a single anti-government demonstration cannot be seen as sufficient to warrant the attention of the South Korean government.”

The administrative court, however, determined that the Russian had in fact participated in multiple anti-war demonstrations in his home country, after he submitted statements from his Russian acquaintances attesting to his presence there. The statements included on numerous occasions in April and September 2022, among other dates, he was seen shouting slogans and singing at anti-war demonstrations in Russia. He also submitted photographs showing the statement together with the author’s identification.

Concluding that the statement presented by the plaintiff appeared credible, the judge said, “[The plaintiff’s] claims that he actively expressed his opposing views to the outside world, including in his participation in demonstrations opposing the war in Ukraine, are consistent and credible.”

He also said his court “recognized the danger that [the plaintiff] may suffer persecution in Russia due to his refusal to be conscripted into the war in Ukraine based on his political views.”

Another factor influencing the recognition of the Russian national’s refugee status was Russia’s strengthening of punishments for soldiers who desert or refuse to take part in combat, which include prison terms of up to 10 years.

By Oh Yeon-seo, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]