Russia rejects asylum applications from two Chinese Tatars who fear imprisonment in concentration camps

A court in the Russian city of Kazan has upheld a decision by the Internal Affairs Ministry of Tatarstan to deny asylum to two Chinese citizens. Shakhrizat and Shakhdiyar Shavkat are twin brothers from a Tatar-Uyghur family, Kommersant reported.

The twins were expelled from Kazan Federal University, where they had studied since 2015. Now, they may face deportation, and they worry that the Chinese government will place them in the country’s notorious “reeducation camps” for Muslims upon their return.

The Shaykats were born in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where the Chinese government has acknowledged running the facilities. The brothers say they have not heard from their parents since 2018 and have since gotten word that both were “arrested and placed in a concentration camp.” Internal Affairs officials denied the Shaykats asylum on the grounds that they did not find evidence the brothers would be in danger upon their return to China.