ArmInfo. In two judgments dated September 16, 2024 (1 K 1819/23.KS.A and 1 K 1820/23.KS.A), the Administrative Court of Kassel ruled that the former residents of Nagorno-Karabakh who had an Armenian passport with the issue code 070 and fled Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the expulsion should not be treated as citizens of Armenia,dearjv.de reports.
"As a former resident of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the plaintiff is ethnic Armenian, but not an Armenian citizen. Although the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have always been issued Armenian passports in the past, according to the Armenian government, this was only to enable them to travel abroad and without any recognition of citizenship (Federal Foreign Office, Report on the situation in Armenia relevant to asylum and deportation, as of December 2023, p. 12). The issuance of passports under this reservation was expressed by marking the documents with the code number "070", which cannot be found on passports of formally citizen Armenians (newspaper article "eurasia-net" of October 30, 2023: Armenia to offer refugee status to displaced Karabakhis). It was only in the course of the widespread expulsion of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh and their flight to Armenia that the general public became aware that this group was not granted any citizenship rights in Armenia. Rather, after fleeing to undisputed Armenian territory, the Armenian government offered them the opportunity to apply for Armenian citizenship. However, nationality can only determine the country of origin for asylum purposes if the person concerned has actually made use of an option to accept nationality (BeckOK Mi-gR/Wittmann, 18th Ed. 15.1.2024, AsylG 3 Rn. 21.2).quot; VG Kassel, judgment of 16.09.2024 (1 Knbsp;1820/23.KS.A).
The court also found that ethnic Armenians in the areas controlled bynbsp;Azerbaijan are continuously subjected to systematic discrimination,nbsp;which, according to the court, has a decades-long tradition innbsp;Azerbaijan:
quot;Regardless of the continued existence of group persecution, whichnbsp;can be left aside here, in the opinion of the single judge, thenbsp;refusal to issue civil status and travel documents to ethnicnbsp;Armenians of Azerbaijani origin already constitutes an act ofnbsp;persecution within the meaning of Section 3a Paragraph 2 No. 2 of thenbsp;Asylum Act. It is a matter of considerable probability that thisnbsp;refusal actually takes place and also affects the plaintiffs. Afternbsp;all, discrimination against Armenians in Azerbaijan has anbsp;decades-long tradition and has been documented many times. Innbsp;contrast, it is not clear why an exception should be made in thenbsp;plaintiffs#39; case in their favor.quot;
VG Kassel, judgment of September 16, 2024 (1 K 1819/23.KS.A).
The court obliged the Federal Office for Migration and Refugeesnbsp;(BAMF) to grant the plaintiffs refugee status in accordance withnbsp;Section 3 of the Asylum Act.
It will be interesting to see how other administrative courts assessnbsp;the legal situation.nbsp;
