France can grant refugee status to Russian servicemen who refused to fight in Ukraine, according to the doctrine adopted by the French National Asylum Court (CNDA), which nevertheless rejected the request of the 28-year-old Russian citizen, considering the elements presented as insufficient, reports News.ro with reference to AFP.

“Russians fleeing mobilization during the war in Ukraine and those mobilized who have deserted may be granted refugee status,” the CNDA said in a statement on Thursday, as “a Russian citizen called up for this mobilization is likely to commit, directly or indirectly, indirectly, war crimes”.

European directive

This doctrine – the first in France regarding deserters from the Russian army – is based on a European directive of December 13, 2011 and a decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of February 26, 2016.

However, the French court rejected the asylum request of the Russian who presented himself as a deserter, finding that “the statements and elements presented do not allow establishing that the applicant was mobilized in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine.”

The 28-year-old Russian applicant left Russia in April 2019 due to his father’s “violent and repeated” actions.

Subsequently, he received two subpoenas as part of the partial mobilization that Russian President Vladimir Putin conducted on September 21, 2022 as part of the war in Ukraine.

A “grand panel” of nine judges analyzed the Russian citizen’s request in late June after the French Office for Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) rejected it at first instance, expressing doubts about the veracity of his version.

Appeal to the State Council

The CNDA points to several anomalies in the documents provided to it and “found that the applicant was discharged from military service in 2013 and fled the country in 2019, citing family and religious issues.”

“In order to claim protection under refugee status, it is necessary to substantiate the nature of the mobilization with precise elements such as documents or detailed and personalized statements,” CNDA vice-president Christine Masset told Agence France-Presse after the decision. Degoise.

“There is a very strong requirement of the Court to prove that a person can be mobilized, while a person who flees from his country does not necessarily have a summons or a military book,” lamented lawyer Sylvain Saligari.

He announced that he intended to appeal to the Conseil d’État, France’s highest administrative court.