Avetisyan

MEMORANDUM *

Arsen Avetisyan and Gayane Stepanyan, husband and wife, are natives and citizens of Armenia. Avetisyan petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) summary affirmance of the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). The IJ found Avetisyan not credible and denied all of his claims for relief on that basis.

The IJ provided four reasons for his adverse credibility determination: inconsistency, incoherency, insufficient detail, and lack of corroborating evidence. Each reason is either unsupported by substantial evidence or an impermissible ground for an adverse credibility determination.

A. Inconsistency

First, the IJ indicated that Avetisyan testified inconsistently about being interviewed on camera. The IJ’s characterization of Avetisyan’s testimony is clearly erroneous: the record reveals that Avetisyan merely answered different questions differently. Indeed, when asked the same question at different times, Avetisyan testified entirely consistently.

Second, the IJ suggested that Avetisyan’s responses to questions about events…