Arutiunian

MEMORANDUM *

Petitioners Rafael Sakratovich Arutiunian and his wife, Karina Sergeyevna Arutiunian, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) summary affirmance, without opinion, of the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) order removing them to Uzbekistan. The principal issue is whether substantial evidence supports the IJ’s finding that Mr. Arutiunian did not suffer past persecution on account of his Armenian ethnicity. The IJ made a finding that the petitioner was credible. Mr. Arutiunian testified that he was arrested, imprisoned, raped, beaten, and tortured as a result of his ethnicity in a country where Armenians are a persecuted minority. While the IJ held all these experiences did not rise to the level of past persecution, we have held that such forms of physical violence amount to persecution. Chand v. INS, 222 F.3d 1066, 1073-74 (9th Cir.2000). Even though no single such incident may rise to the level of persecution, the cumulative effect of similar harms and abuses support granting asylum. See Korablina v. INS, 158 F.3d 1038, 1044 (9th Cir.1998). The undisputed credible evidence here compels a finding that Mr. Arutiunian suffered past persecution. See Ali…