Stockholm terrorist-attack survivor faces deportation, sparking outcry over human rights breach
Irina lost part of her leg and is struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder after the Stockholm terrorist attack in 2017. She now faces deportation from Sweden in a move that may breach her human rights, Caritas has told RT.
Ukrainian Irina had been reassured by Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Leven that everything would be fine when he visited her in hospital after her horrific injuries. She had ended up under the wheels of a lorry that ploughed into a department store in
Stockholm in April 2017. The same attack claimed the lives of five people and injured 14.
She had to undergo several surgeries during her three-week stay in hospital following the attack, but doctors were unable to save her right leg. A part of the limb was amputated and replaced with a prosthesis.
“I am [an] invalid. I’m dead. My life is finished,” Irina told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet as she recalled what went through her mind in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist atrocity.
Despite Irina being allowed to stay in Sweden on a temporary residency permit while she testified against the perpetrator during the past year, she now faces deportation after she and her daughter were denied leave to stay.
The Migration Service of Sweden refused to grant Irina leave to remain in Sweden, saying that she needs to go home to get medical assistance and care from her family and friends, as she is unable to look after herself.
Irina’s vision of a future in her home country is bleak, however. She claims that she would struggle in Ukraine because of the economic crisis that the country is going through.
“Many people, who are not invalids, don’t have work,” she told Aftonbladet, adding that who those who have jobs are paid very little money.
🆘‼🤬🔥 #Sweden: This Ukrainian mother, a victim of the truck terrorist attack in Stockholm last year, in which she has lost a leg, now has to leave Sweden (get a decree). While thousands of illegal Afghans are courted by the government. What a shame! https://t.co/OflMKkXTKUpic.twitter.com/JeWrUzn9yn
— Onlinemagazin (@OnlineMagazin) August 17, 2018
Even if she was supported to remain out-of-work, she would not have access to adequate healthcare in the home country. “I need a good, professional psychologist, I have post-traumatic [stress] syndrome, I want help,” the terrorist-attack survivor said.
“This is not a possible situation. This is crazy,” Irina added.
While acknowledging that Sweden is not acting unlawfully by enforcing Irina’s removal, as her injuries occurred through no “failure” of its own, Director of Migration for Caritas Sweden George Joseph told RT that the country should nonetheless allow her to stay.
He said that it had been fine for her to remain while she was needed as a witness against the suspected terrorist, and Sweden should permit her to remain on “humanitarian grounds.”
“If the situation in Ukraine is such that she can’t get proper care and proper support, it would’ve been humanitarian consideration that should’ve given her a permit in Sweden,” Joseph explained.
The Caritas director also warned that removing Irina to a place that could have “detrimental effects” on her wellbeing could be in “breach of her human rights.”
“Because of the conditions that Ukraine can lead to, her return can have a huge impact on her wellbeing, health and future,” Joseph told RT.
The Swedish Migration Board claims that the medical care and rehabilitation she needs is available in Ukraine and that their decision does not contravene the European Convention.
Irina now have two weeks to leave the country. She intends to appeal the Migration Service’s decision, although it may take several months.
Joseph said that Irina “definitely has the right to compensation because the terrorist attack damaged her physical ability.”
“There is a mechanism for compensation and she should be given that,” he said.
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