Setrakyan

MEMORANDUM *

Petitioner Armen Setrakyan, a native and citizen of Armenia, seeks review of the *478 Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture (“CAT”) relief. He argues the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) adverse credibility finding is not supported by substantial evidence and that the past persecution he alleges is sufficiently political to meet the requirements of 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (a)(42)(A). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We grant the petition and remand to the BIA for further consideration.

Discussion

Because the BIA summarily affirmed under 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1 (e)(4), we review the IJ’s decision as the final agency action. Lanza v. Ashcroft, 389 F.3d 917, 925 (9th Cir.2004). We review for substantial evidence the IJ’s adverse credibility finding, Gui v. INS, 280 F.3d 1217, 1225 (9th Cir. 2002), as well as his factual determination of whether Setrakyan was persecuted “on account of ... political opinion,” INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992).

1. Adverse Credibility

The IJ’s adverse credibility finding in this case is not…