On June 22, 2018, a court found Lee guilty of violating Clause 1.1 of
Article 18.8 of the RF Code of Administrative Offences for overstaying his
period of stay in Russia and imposed a punishment of a 3,000 ruble fine
with administrative expulsion from Russia and confinement in the foreign
national detention center in Abakan. When considering this case, the court
mistakenly thought that Lee was an Uzbek citizen, even though he had no
citizenship at all at the time of the court proceedings.
On July 20, 2018, bailiffs received a certificate from Uzbekistan’s Ministry
of Internal Affairs stating that Lee had lost his Uzbek citizenship and could
not be documented to return to his native country. With this certificate,
Lee was immediately able to file an appeal to the expulsion ruling and
his illegal confinement in a detention center with the Supreme Court of
the Republic of Khakassia. Lee cited the Constitutional Court judgment
regarding an appeal by another stateless person, Noé Mskhiladze, whose
defense was also supported by ADC Memorial. Because of this judgment,
Russia created a mechanism for releasing stateless persons who have, to
all intents and purposes, been deprived of liberty indefinitely.
In spite of confirmation of Lee’s lack of citizenship and the impossibility of
executing the court ruling, the court continued to treat Lee as a citizen of
Uzbekistan and refused to grant the appeal.
Finally, on December 10, 2018, Lee’s attorney Valery Zaytsev filed an
appeal with the Abakan City Court requesting Lee’s release. Zaytsev noted
the impossibility of executing the expulsion ruling in light of Lee’s lack of
citizenship, which made his confinement in a foreign national detention
center indefinite and violated his rights set forth in Part 4 of Article 46,
Article 55, and Part 3 of Article 62 and contravened the position of the RF
Constitutional Court.
After considering this appeal, the court acknowledged that, with account
for the requirements of the Constitutional Court judgment, Lee’s detention in
a specialized facility entailed an unjustified restriction on his right to liberty
and security of person and ruled to stop the execution of administrative
expulsion and release Lee.
Denis Lee is currently free. He has received a conclusion on identification as
a stateless person, which will allow him to start the procedure for acquiring
Russian citizenship.
The European Court continues to issue judgments in the cases of stateless persons confined in foreign national detention centers in Russia. These judgments require
that the corresponding restrictive measures be justified and proportionate and that
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