Radio Marsho has reported that a male Chechen asylum seeker has died in an Austrian deportation prison.

According to the information, on June 30, 2012 Zelimkhan Isakov, born in 1977, was stopped by Austrian police in the city of Vienna during an identity control procedure during the day. He was arrested after failing to produce an ID. Shortly after, his ID was handed over to police by his relatives but Austrian authorities did not release Zelimkhan Isakov. Instead, they threatened him with deportation to Russia because his asylum request had been denied. On September 27, just 2 days before his deportation, he was found dead in his prison cell. His friends and relatives say that he was perfectly healthy and died from stress and deep depression, which stemmed from the prospect of being thrown once again into a Russian concentration camp, where he had already endured torture a few years ago.

Vakha Banzhaev, head of the Organization of Former Prisoners of Russian Filtration Camps from the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (OUFKL-ChRI), confirmed that Zelimkhan Isakov was a prisoner in a Russian concentration camp. He spent several years in prison and was subjected to torture on charges of participation in the war against the Russian invaders in the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. After his release, he went to Austria in search of refuge. However, the Austrian authorities denied his asylum application.

Courtesy of: WaYNaKH Online