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Serhii Vakurov is living a nightmare as he awaits deportation to Ukraine where he says he will be killed by corrupt authorities who are after huge natural gas reserves on property he owns back home.
Canada Border Services Agency says the 36-year-old businessman, who came to Canada in 2011 to study English at Algonquin College, is being kicked out of Canada over an expired student visa. Vakurov says he could not apply for an extension in April 2013 as his passport and birth certificate had been stolen in Ottawa months earlier and he would have had to return to Ukraine to have them reissued. He reported the theft to Ottawa police.
Vakurov is being held at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre and is scheduled to leave for Kyiv Friday.
Vakurov’s immigration lawyer, Michael Bell, is hoping he can convince the Federal Court Thursday for a stay of removal so Vakurov’s case can be reviewed to determine whether CBSA officers erred in not directing him to apply for refugee status last October. Vakurov says he told the officers about his situation and that his lawyer in Ukraine had been severely beaten by those after the natural gas reserves. Bell says that should have sounded an alarm, but the CBSA officers do not recall Vakurov making the claim.
In his affidavit to the Federal Court, Vakurov says Ukrainian authorities have tried to build a bogus case against him involving fraud. He says their plan is to arrest him once he is back in Ukraine, force him to sign over the property and kill him. In his pre-removal risk assessment, Immigration says he did not provide sufficient evidence to prove there was a risk of death or torture if deported.
But Bell says he has no doubt Vakurov is in danger if he is sent back to Ukraine. “The corruption is rampant throughout the country. If someone wants to get his assets (and shut him up), this is a good way of doing it … When he says ‘I believe I will be killed if I’m returned to Ukraine,’ I firmly believe that will be true.”
Ukraine has been mired in crisis and corruption since the breakup of the Soviet Union, and it reached the breaking point in February 2014 when a violent revolt resulted in the ousting of the country’s president.
Vakuro says he knew about the gas reserves when he bought the land in Chernivtsi region, near the Ukraine-Romania border, about a decade ago for a horse-riding stable. The pipeline was already in the ground — Vakuro says it was installed when the Ukraine was part of the old Soviet Union — but it was no longer in service. At the time he purchased the property, he did not have claim to the reserves, but the law was subsequently changed, he says, giving him title.
Vakurov says it was only after he arrived in Canada that he learned about the plot. He says his former common-law wife, Kosenkova Ekaterina, and their three sons — whom he wants to bring to Canada, were threatened by some of the same authorities.
In a translated affidavit that Bell hopes he can submit at Thursday’s hearing, Vakurov’s eldest son, Lev, 14, says the family lives in constant fear. He says they have received death threats and that police claim they can’t help them.
“My mother hides everything from me, but I have changed three schools already, we moved three times (since 2012), I am not allowed to leave home without supervision.
“My mother constantly takes pills; she is constantly having heart problems. My mother has changed three jobs already because of those visits. Everytime someone (comes) to the door, my mother and grandmother shakes. I heard from conversations … that they would kill my mother … and my father … leave us all orphans and when I grew up they will make the same with me.
“Now we are in hiding, we do not tell anyone where we live, because we were tracked down a few times.”
A Ukrainian law firm providing legal assistance to Ekaterina confirms the death threats in another affidavit and their multiple complaints to police. “No effective investigation is being conducted at the moment,” the affidavit says. It also says the family is in hiding because of the “constant murder threats” against them and Vakurov.
As well, the godmother of Vakurov’s youngest son, who lives in Canada and often visits his former partner and their three children in Ukraine, says in a letter to Immigration that she has witnessed “high-ranking officials” making death threats over the property.
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Canada Border Services Agency says the 36-year-old businessman, who came to Canada in 2011 to study English at Algonquin College, is being kicked out of Canada over an expired student visa. Vakurov says he could not apply for an extension in April 2013 as his passport and birth certificate had been stolen in Ottawa months earlier and he would have had to return to Ukraine to have them reissued. He reported the theft to Ottawa police.
Vakurov is being held at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre and is scheduled to leave for Kyiv Friday.
Vakurov’s immigration lawyer, Michael Bell, is hoping he can convince the Federal Court Thursday for a stay of removal so Vakurov’s case can be reviewed to determine whether CBSA officers erred in not directing him to apply for refugee status last October. Vakurov says he told the officers about his situation and that his lawyer in Ukraine had been severely beaten by those after the natural gas reserves. Bell says that should have sounded an alarm, but the CBSA officers do not recall Vakurov making the claim.
In his affidavit to the Federal Court, Vakurov says Ukrainian authorities have tried to build a bogus case against him involving fraud. He says their plan is to arrest him once he is back in Ukraine, force him to sign over the property and kill him. In his pre-removal risk assessment, Immigration says he did not provide sufficient evidence to prove there was a risk of death or torture if deported.
But Bell says he has no doubt Vakurov is in danger if he is sent back to Ukraine. “The corruption is rampant throughout the country. If someone wants to get his assets (and shut him up), this is a good way of doing it … When he says ‘I believe I will be killed if I’m returned to Ukraine,’ I firmly believe that will be true.”
Ukraine has been mired in crisis and corruption since the breakup of the Soviet Union, and it reached the breaking point in February 2014 when a violent revolt resulted in the ousting of the country’s president.
Vakuro says he knew about the gas reserves when he bought the land in Chernivtsi region, near the Ukraine-Romania border, about a decade ago for a horse-riding stable. The pipeline was already in the ground — Vakuro says it was installed when the Ukraine was part of the old Soviet Union — but it was no longer in service. At the time he purchased the property, he did not have claim to the reserves, but the law was subsequently changed, he says, giving him title.
Vakurov says it was only after he arrived in Canada that he learned about the plot. He says his former common-law wife, Kosenkova Ekaterina, and their three sons — whom he wants to bring to Canada, were threatened by some of the same authorities.
In a translated affidavit that Bell hopes he can submit at Thursday’s hearing, Vakurov’s eldest son, Lev, 14, says the family lives in constant fear. He says they have received death threats and that police claim they can’t help them.
“My mother hides everything from me, but I have changed three schools already, we moved three times (since 2012), I am not allowed to leave home without supervision.
“My mother constantly takes pills; she is constantly having heart problems. My mother has changed three jobs already because of those visits. Everytime someone (comes) to the door, my mother and grandmother shakes. I heard from conversations … that they would kill my mother … and my father … leave us all orphans and when I grew up they will make the same with me.
“Now we are in hiding, we do not tell anyone where we live, because we were tracked down a few times.”
A Ukrainian law firm providing legal assistance to Ekaterina confirms the death threats in another affidavit and their multiple complaints to police. “No effective investigation is being conducted at the moment,” the affidavit says. It also says the family is in hiding because of the “constant murder threats” against them and Vakurov.
As well, the godmother of Vakurov’s youngest son, who lives in Canada and often visits his former partner and their three children in Ukraine, says in a letter to Immigration that she has witnessed “high-ranking officials” making death threats over the property.
Is something bothering you? Please contact: thepubliccitizen@ottawacitizen.com
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