Kouropova

MEMORANDUM *

Patrizia Kouropova 1 petitions for review from the BIA’s September 26, 2003 decision denying her asylum and suspension of deportation. Because of the inexcusable delay in processing her case, the repeated errors by the Immigration Judge (IJ), and the serious prejudice this delay caused her, we hold that the handling of her case did not comport with due process and fundamental fairness and grant her petition for review.

1. This case presents a unique and troublesome factual history. Kouropova originally applied for asylum in September 1993, two years after her arrival in the United States from Armenia. She sought asylum, alleging that she had a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of imputed political opinion. The IJ denied her claim in February 1994, on the basis of a lack of corroborating evidence. The BIA did not rule on her appeal for six and a half years, until August 2000, when it remanded the case for the IJ to make an explicit credibility determination, noting that the IJ had required evidence corroborating Kouropova’s testimony, in violation of our clear precedent. Two years later, the same IJ again denied her asylum relief again, on (very…