Vardanyan

MEMORANDUM **

Robert Vardanyan, an Armenian citizen, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals order summarily affirming the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and grant the petition.

We review adverse credibility determinations for substantial evidence. Shah v. I.N.S., 220 F.3d 1062, 1067 (9th Cir.2000).

The IJ offered several reasons for finding Vardanyan not credible. First, the IJ doubted why Vardanyan would deny to Armenian government agents that he had met with a high-ranking official to discuss illicit killings at his military base when it was clear that the agents already knew of the meeting. The IJ’s rejection of this account, however, rested upon speculation about how a persecuted person would behave while being detained and interrogated by secret police. An adverse credibility finding cannot rest on the fact, even if it is a fact, that a person lied to interrogators under such circumstances. See Tureios v. I.N.S., 821 F.2d 1396, 1400-01 (9th Cir.1987) (holding that misstatements must be evaluated “in the…

dissenting.

I respectfully dissent.

The question is whether there was substantial evidence on the record as a whole that supported the immigration judge’s adverse credibility determination. I think there was. I agree with the immigration judge that it does not make much sense that an object of the government’s ire, such as Mr. Vardanyan claims to be, would serve out his full term in the military, be discharged, be allowed to leave the hospital without difficulty, and be allowed to travel abroad for a wrestling competition without difficulty. This goes to the heart of Vardanyan’s claim.

I also agree with the immigration judge that Vardanyan’s explanation of his lack of contact with his mother does not make any sense. He stayed in constant contact with her while he was in the military. Yet, as the immigration judge noted, has had no contact with her for four years, including 2 1/2 years while he was in the United States, and there was nothing to interfere or create a threat of harm to either one of them on account of contact. When he was asked about this, first he said that the reason he had not talked with his mother in Russia is that he did not know where she was. Then, he said…