Chrakyan

MEMORANDUM

Petitioners Karine Chrakyan and her daughter, Lusine Shahinyan, a derivative applicant, (together, “Petitioners”) both natives and citizens of Russia, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision affirming an Immigration Judge’s (“U”) denial of her applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”).

Petitioners, both Chechens, entered the United States to escape the conflict between Chechnya and Russia. During the war, they were displaced to a refugee camp where in one instance Russian soldiers, who were drunk and under the influence of drugs at the time, demanded their valuables and, when they had none to give, tore their clothes and beat them. Petitioners suffered no broken bones, and the record does not show they required medical treatment, but, per Petitioner’s testimony which we must credit, they were badly beaten.

Petitioners moved to Moscow but, because they were Chechen, could not get a registration stamp to live in the city. Police stopped them and took them to the police station, where, according to Petitioner Karine, police would “humiliate us, harass us, scare, frighten…