Yilisen Aierken, a 24-year-old Kazakh from China, is at risk being deported from Ukraine back to the Xinjiang region in northwest China where he could face torture or illegal imprisonment because of his ethnic background.
Aierken was arrested by Slovakian authorities while trying to illegally cross into Slovakia from Ukraine on Aug. 8. He was fleeing Ukraine after receiving threats and being pressured to return to China while staying in Kyiv, a Kazakh activist who has been in touch with him, Botagoz Isa, told the Kazakh Radio Azattyk.
After detaining Aierken for three days, Slovakia sent him back to a Ukrainian detention facility.
Aierken is now facing an administrative charge for violating the Ukrainian border, a detention center official told the Kyiv Post. A court hearing is scheduled for Aug. 13.
“While at the detention center yesterday, he overheard some officers mentioning that he would be deported to China. He’s fearful of his safety ,” Rayhan Asat, a U.S.-based Uyghur human rights activist, lawyer, and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who’s been advocating for Aierken’s release told the Kyiv Post.
In 2020, Asat launched a public campaign to save her brother, Ekpar Asat, who has been sentenced to 15 years in a Xinjiang prison for inciting ethnic hatred, a charge deemed fabricated by the U.S. State Department.
Aierken made his escape from Xinjiang in 2019 to avoid being thrown into a concentration camp. Beijing refers to these as “re-education camps,” where members of China’s largely Muslim indigenous groups like Uyghurs and Kazakhs are detained.
Reports suggest that at least a million of Chinese Muslims are held in these camps, where they’re subjected to torture and coerced labor. China denies the allegations and says those are vocational facilities that offer cultural and work-related education.
Aierken arrived in Kazakhstan in December 2019 and came to Ukraine in October 2020. According to a photo of a document published by Aierken on his Facebook page, which appears to be a certificate of application for asylum in Ukraine, Aierken was allowed to legally await his asylum decision in Ukraine until Dec. 15, 2021.
However, Aierken felt unsafe here, according to Asat and Isa, who have been in contact with him.
“Someone had intimidated him. He said that two strangers threatened him, told him to return to China, otherwise they threatened to kill him. Then, according to him, he was followed. He turned off Facebook, WhatsApp and disappeared. Through my acquaintances, I contacted him, he said that he was afraid, wanted to cross the border, to get to another state. I warned him against this, advised him to wait,” Isa told Radio Azattyk.
Other Chinese dissidents have been targeted while seeking refuge in Ukraine.
A 19-year-old student, Wang Jingyu, who was persecuted by China for his online comments criticizing China’s totalitarian government, had been receiving threats from Chinese officials while hiding in Ukraine, Associated Press reported in July of 2021.
Aierken claimed that he was also persecuted in Kazakhstan before he came to Ukraine. He received a residence permit in Kazakhstan and was going to apply for citizenship, but “faced pressure from the security services,” Radio Azattyk reported.
Human rights experts say it would be illegal for Ukraine to deport Airken, regardless of the laws he might have violated in Ukraine.
The United Nations Convention against Torture, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, all of which have been signed by Ukraine, forbids the return of a person to a country where he or she is likely to face torture, Steve Swerdlow, a lawyer and a human rights professor at the University of Southern California told the Kyiv Post.
“Ukraine should say no to any potential request from China to extradite him,” he added.
Swerdlow also said there is “ample evidence” that Airken will be “tortured, detained, subjected to prolonged imprisonment and maybe even put to death,” if deported.
Arthur Kharytonov, the main coordinator of the Free Hong Kong center said he talked to Ukrainian officials who reportedly told him that they would not deport Aierken.
But in the past, Ukraine has been criticized for breaching the convention and returning asylum seekers to countries like Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan where they faced torture, Swerdlow said.
“Under no circumstance should the Ukrainian government deport him, but must instead expedite his request for protected asylum status and allow him to either resettle in Ukraine or seek diplomatic support from other western countries for third-country resettlement,” Asat told the Kyiv Post. “It is hard to imagine the struggle that Yilisen has endured on the path to freedom.”
“Ukraine is obligated under both international convention and national law to protect this courageous young individual, who will otherwise face certain torture and persecution if forced to be returned to China or Kazakhstan.”
