6 | PROTECTING STATELESS PERSONS FROM ARBITRARY DETENTION IN UKRAINE Vitalii Tsoi was born in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. A member of the Korean minority and a descendant of formerly deported people,3 he found it difficult to provide for himself during the turbulent times of Uzbekistan’s establishment as an independent state. In 1995 he moved to the south of Ukraine to find work. All his possessions, including his USSR passport with Tashkent registration, were stolen. His interaction with Ukrainian law-enforcement authorities has taught Vitalii to live his life avoiding any contact with them for fear of repeated detention, abuse, harassment, extortion and ill-treatment. His lack of a passport also impaired his access to necessary medical aid, which he requires due to serious chronic illness, and led to further deterioration of his health. His multiple and costly attempts to obtain an ID from the authorities of Uzbekistan only led to them in 2014 officially declaring in writing that he did not have a right to claim Uzbekistani citizenship. Stateless and undocumented, he and his Ukrainian common law wife are unable to even register their marriage due to his lack of ID. However, he does not fall into despair thanks to support from his family and his sense of responsibility to care for them. Ashyr Berdyyev from Turkmenistan is 46 years old. He left his country in 2010 to find work in Russia. While in Russia, Ashyr lost his passport and due to a lack of funds to cover consular fees, was unable to approach the Embassy of Turkmenistan to get a new one or obtain a ‘return certificate’. In 2013, upon entering Ukraine irregularly he was apprehended by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS) and detained for 12 months while efforts to deport him were made to no avail as the Turkmen Embassy did not document him. Following the expiry of the maximum detention period Ashyr was released. While he was entitled to receive a temporary residence permit upon release, the procedure at the time required that a released detainee present his/her passport to obtain this document. Therefore, he (and most other individuals in that situation) did not receive a permit. Due to prolonged separation, he lost contact with his family. At the time of publication, Ashyr has again been detained.