Volodymir Fedunyak v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General

Volodymir Fedunyak, a Ukrainian national, petitions the court for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision denying asylum and withholding of removal. Although the Immigration Judge (IJ) found that Fedunyak had suffered sufficient persecution to demonstrate that he would likely be tortured if he was returned to the Ukraine and thus was entitled to relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), a majority of the BIA panel declined to find that Fedun-yak’s persecution was on account of his political opinions. We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and review the BIA’s findings of fact for substantial evidence. See Aguiluz-Arellano v. Gonzales, 446 F.3d 980, 982 (9th Cir.2006). Because the record compels finding that Fedun-yak’s protests against official corruption constituted political opinion, we grant the petition for review and remand for further proceedings.

I. Background

Fedunyak opened an automobile sales business in 1997 in the Ukrainian city of Striy. The chief of Striy’s registration department ordered Fedunyak to share his success and demanded that Fedunyak pay $100 for every car sold. Fedunyak made one payment but then began to register cars…