Elena Maglevannaya will not give up
The Russian freelance journalist and human rights activist, Elena Maglevannaya, who has applied for asylum in Finland, continues her work at the refugee reception centre in Joutseno, on the Finnish-Russian border. Maglevannaya has been waiting for a decision on her asylum application for over a year now. If the Finnish immigration authorities grant her asylum, Maglevannaya vows to continue writing about human rights violations in Chechnya. "It is impossible for me to return to Russia; that would be a death sentence," says Maglevannaya. She has finally received an invitation to a hearing at the Finnish Immigration Service, where she will have an opportunity to recount her reasons to apply for asylum. "I am excited, but I have great trust in the European system. Here in Finland, there is rule of law. I have often been in a situation where law has no meaning or it does not exist at all," Maglevannaya says.
