Shahgulyan

MEMORANDUM ***

Mher Shahgulyan, a native and citizen of Armenia, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) dismissal of his appeal from an immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review the BIA’s decision for substantial evidence. Gafoor v. INS, 231 F.3d 645, 650 (9th Cir.2000). We grant the petition for review and remand for further proceedings.

Given that the BIA found Shahgulyan’s testimony to be credible, substantial evidence does not support the BIA’s conclusion that he failed to establish the incidents he described occurred on account of a protected ground. Shahgulyan testified that he volunteered to act as a personal bodyguard for an Armenian opposition presidential candidate whose principles he supported. During the campaign, Shahgu-lyan accompanied this candidate and voiced his support for the candidate during a speech at a public rally. Shahgulyan further testified that while he was volunteering, he was severely beaten once after inquiring into the mistreatment of one of his candidate’s supporters, and again after he was detained and…