Unwanted, Unnoticed: an audit of 160 asylum and immigration-related deaths in Europe falling from a balcony while trying to escape immigration police in the Hague.92 • Franklin Othieno (29), 12/09/2010 A Kenyan man died at Schipol airport during his deportation following the refusal of his asylum claim.93 • Kambiz Roustayi (36) 06/04/2011 Roustayi, an Iranian asylum seeker, committed suicide by setting himself on fire in Dam Square in Amsterdam.94 • Predrag Molnar Guma (40), 22/12/2011 A Serbian undocumented man, Guma committed suicide in his cell in the Noordwest detention unit, Meer en Waart (Amsterdam). He had been found without valid identity documents and arrested on 18 December.95 • Alain Hatungimana (36), 09/04/2012 A Burundian asylum seeker, Hatungimana committed suicide in an asylum centre at Culemborg. His asylum claim had been refused despite the local authority’s intervention on behalf of his two children, aged 12 and 14, who had lost their mother in the civil war. Hatungimana became depressed and fearful for his children’s futures, and subsequently took his own life so that his children would be allowed to remain in the country.96 • Aleksandr Dolmatov (36), 17/01/2013 A Russian asylum seeker, Dolmatov committed suicide in Rotterdam airport immigration removal centre. He was an engineer and antiPutin activist who was arrested at a protest and fled Russia in May 2012, citing harassment from authorities. He claimed asylum in the Netherlands and was housed at the Gravendeel reception centre until his claim was rejected on the basis of assurances from the Russian government that he would only be fined for illegal exit. Dolmatov became increasingly isolated and fearful of the Russian authorities, with family and his lawyer claiming that the Russian security services were threatening him shortly before his death. Despite a pending appeal, he was moved to the Dordrecht deportation centre and then to the Rotterdam immigration removal centre. An official report ordered by the ministry of justice blamed failings in Dutch asylum policy for the death. Following its publication, the Security and Justice Minister announced improvements in the system to ensure that refused asylum seekers who lodged an appeal were not listed as ‘illegal’.97 • Unidentified man (30), 13/04/2014 An Armenian asylum seeker committed suicide near the AZC (asylum reception centre) Schalkhaar in Deventer. He had arrived in the Netherlands in November 2013, and was awaiting deportation to Germany under the Dublin Regulation. He had serious psychological problems and suffered from severe delusions, but because of his pending deportation, was given no psychiatric support. He said that he felt much calmer in the Netherlands, and claimed to have crushed his nose in Germany as he believed that a bugging device had been implanted in it. Two asylum lawyers accused the Dutch authorities of putting politics before health, and the political opposition called for the Security and Justice Minister to make a statement, particularly in the light of promises for a more ‘humane’ asylum system after the suicide of Aleksandr Dolmatov in 2013.98 NORWAY SNAPSHOT: Concerns have been expressed about Norway’s detention of asylum seekers, including children, and its prioritising of returns over children’s welfare. Politicians’ use of phrases such as ‘fortune hunters’ to describe refugees, and moves to deport many Eritrean refugees, have also been condemned.99 • Twenty-two unidentified people, 2012 The deaths of twenty-two unidentified people in Norway’s reception centres in 2012 have been recorded. Until October 2013, Norway did not record the deaths IRR | European Research Progamme Briefing No. 10 20