Russian activist Piotr Pavlenski, indicted and placed under judicial control, Tuesday, February 18, for having broadcast the intimate video of a sexual nature of Benjamin Griveaux, could lose his status as a political refugee after the legal proceedings, as Christophe Castaner suggested. At the microphone of Europe 1, Elodie Journaux, lawyer specializing in the law of foreigners, nuances the words of the Minister of the Interior.
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French justice blames Piotr Pavlenski for "crimes" and not "crimes". The Russian activist is the target of two investigations, one on the dissemination of an intimate video without the person's agreement, in the Griveaux file, the other on intentional violence for a fight on New Years Eve. However, to lose political refugee status, the offenses must be much more serious, according to counsel. "To question a refugee status, you must either have committed serious crimes, therefore crimes against humanity, war crimes as we can hear them. Here, we are not at all that degree, "says Elodie Journaux.
The decision rests with OFPRA
There have already been cases of people who lost their refugee status after being convicted of terrorism, human trafficking or even aggravated pimping. In these cases, it is the French Office for the Protection of Refugees (OFPRA) that returns such a decision. For the moment, he has not been seized of the Pavlenski file.
If the investigation shows the existence of foreign interference, Russian activism for example, then it could be considered a serious threat to the state. And at that time, the protection of Pavlenski in France could be called into question.