Posted on March 9, 2010 - by Venik

Alexander Litvinenko’s family refused refugee status due to EU rules, Italy says

Official denies former Russian spy’s family were denied status because of Silvio Berlusconi’s friendship with Vladimir Putin

The Italian government today claimed that European regulations, not Silvio Berlusconi’s friendship with Vladimir Putin, were behind the decision to refuse refugee status to the family of the murdered Russian exile Alexander Litvinenko.

After Litvinenko, a former Russian spy, was poisoned in London in 2006, his father, Walter, half-sister, Tatiana, and other relatives moved to Italy to claim refugee status.

They alleged that the delay in their case was due to the close ties between the Italian prime minister and his Russian counterpart, and Walter Litvinenko claimed his family had been harassed by Italian police.

A spokesman for Berlusconi denied the Litvinenkos had been abandoned and said Italy had applied a European directive granting the family so-called subsidiary protection status, which grants similar rights to refugee status.

“They have full protection – it is the maximum allowed by law,” he said. “It means they are considered individuals who cannot return to their country of origin because they fear being subjected to violence.”

Italy has held back from granting full refugee status, which is enshrined in the Geneva convention and awarded to people suffering persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership of a social group or political opinion.

Although Litvinenko’s murder was widely believed to be political, the new status his relatives have been granted excludes that of people persecuted for their political views, since it is applied “when the applicant does not fulfil the requirements for becoming a refugee”, according to the European Union description of the 2004 directive.

However, it does apply to those who face the general threat of torture and human rights violations as well as “indiscriminate violence arising in situations of armed conflict”, for example where large groups flee warzones.

The spokesman said subsidiary protection status had been granted to Walter Litvinenko, his wife and his daughter in February. His son, Maxim, was granted the same status in 2008, he added.

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