Advertisement

Sweden to deport Ukrainian survivor of 2017 terror attack

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Sweden to deport Ukrainian survivor of 2017 terror attack
Women are pictured laying down flowers by the scene of the 2017 attack. File photo: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

A Ukrainian woman who lost her right leg in the April 2017 Stockholm terror attack is facing deportation from the country, her lawyer said on Monday.

Advertisement

Irina Zamanova, 39, was visiting Sweden as a tourist in April of 2017 when the attack occurred. She was among the ten people injured and her injuries were so severe that doctors had to amputate her lower right leg.

The attack was carried out by an Uzbek asylum seeker, who had sworn allegiance to Isis and hijacked a truck which he drove down a busy pedestrian street in central Stockholm. He was later sentenced to life in prison.

READ ALSO:

Zamanova was originally granted a temporary residence permit as she was a witness in the trial against the assailant.

As that permit expired she applied for permanent residency in Sweden, on compassionate grounds in "extraordinary circumstances," which can be argued for under Swedish migration law but are rarely granted. 

Her request was first denied by the Swedish Migration Board, and then again by a Swedish Migration Court after she appealed it. Zamanova appealed that decision to Sweden's highest court on migration
matters, the Migration Court of Appeal.

Henrik Hoffman, the lawyer representing Zamanova, said on Monday that he had learned that the court had decided not to review the case, meaning that the ruling from the lower court would stand.

Hoffman said that among other things they had asked the courts to consider that Zamanova would not be able to receive the same level of healthcare in Ukraine, as in Sweden.

"Obviously the courts haven't thought these are extraordinary circumstances," he told AFP, adding that he thought it was "very regrettable" that Sweden couldn't take care of a woman who had ended up in a terrible situation through no fault of her own.

The decision means she will have to leave the country with her 14-year-old daughter in four weeks, and Hoffman said they were looking into how they would proceed. 

READ ALSO: Swedish court rejects appeal for father of Stockholm terror victim

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also