An ethnic Kazakh from China's northwestern province of Xinjiang, who was released from immigration custody in Ukraine and moved to Poland along with thousands of refugees fleeing Russia's ongoing invasion in March, is currently being held in Germany for allegedly entering the country illegally.
A police official in the Bavarian city of Kempten told RFE/RL on July 13 that Chinese citizen Ersin Erkinuly was currently in detention, but refused to give any other details, saying that, according to German law, a person in custody must agree in writing before information about his case can be made public.
Erkinuly told RFE/RL earlier this month by phone that he was detained when entering the country from neighboring France, adding that he feared he could be deported to China.
However, the German official told RFE/RL his country never deports individuals to countries where they may face death or torture, adding that Erkinuly could be deported to the EU country from which he entered Germany.
Erkinuly was arrested by Ukrainian border guards in October 2020 when he tried to cross into Poland without proper documentation.
SEE ALSO: Ethnic Kazakh From Xinjiang Says Released From Ukrainian Custody, Now In EUHe was released from custody in the western city of Lviv in December 2020 after an appeals court canceled a lower-court decision to deport him back to China.
In August 2021, Slovak border guards detained Erkinuly after he attempted to illegally cross the border and sent him back to Ukraine, where he was rearrested and held in an immigration center in Lviv.
Erkinuly has claimed he lost his Chinese passport and that he would face imprisonment and torture if he was sent back to China. The Ukrainian authorities eventually granted him refugee status.
In recent years, many Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other mostly Muslim, indigenous ethnic groups have fled the country, fearing detention.
The U.S. State Department has said that as many as 2 million members of these ethnic groups have been taken to Chinese detention centers.
China denies that the facilities are internment camps, calling them re-education centers.
Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang after the Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans.