EU court halts Swedish expulsion of 91-year-old to Ukraine
(STOCKHOLM) - The widely criticised expulsion of a 91-year-old Ukrainian woman suffering from dementia was halted at the last minute Tuesday when the European Court of Human Rights told Sweden to delay the move, Swedish authorities said.
"The European Court asked that we stop the execution" of the expulsion order, Swedish Migration Board spokeswoman Charlotte Jacobsson told AFP.
The European court request came in only shortly before Ganna Chyzhevska, suffering from dementia, heart disease, almost blind and with no friends or family members left in Ukraine, was set to be put on a 3:55 pm (1355 GMT) flight to her homeland.
Jacobsson provided no further information, but Swedish media reported that the European Court had received a complaint about the case at around 1:00 pm (1100 GMT) and had immediately placed a two-week inhibition order on the expulsion due to fears Chyzhevska's rights were being violated.
Another Migration Board spokesman, Andreas Lundberg, told the TT news agency he had called Chyzhevska's granddaughter with the news of the stay when the pair were already in a car on their way to Stockholm's Arlanda airport.
"It is temporary, although it could become permanent," he said of the halted expulsion.
"We have won time. That is what is important," granddaughter Anna Otto told the Aftonbladet daily's online edition.
Chyzhevska had come to Sweden after her husband died to stay with her daughter and granddaughter, who settled in the Scandinavian country two decades ago, and applied for a residency permit in 2003, according to Swedish media reports.
Her application was finally rejected a few months ago and immigration authorities ruled last month she would be expelled.
The decision has caused an uproar in Sweden, with calls from politicians and the national Red Cross for a reversal and a Facebook group called "Stop the expulsion of Ganna Chyzhevska" counting more than 10,000 members.
Swedish Immigration Minister Tobias Billstroem has also reportedly been bombarded with emails demanding that Chyzhevska's case be reevaluated, and dozens of demonstrators gathered at Arlanda airport Tuesday.
Otto herself had spent three hours at Arlanda earlier in the day trying to convince the airline to refuse to fly her grandmother to Ukraine, armed with medical certificates cautioning Chyzhevska would "most probably" enter a state of such confusion during the trip that she would risk dying, Aftonbladet reported.