176 F. App'x 879

Goarik Babayevna AGADZHANYAN, Petitioner, v. Alberto R. GONZALES, Attorney General, Respondent.

No. 03-73713.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted March 7, 2006.

Filed April 21, 2006.

Susan E. Hill, Hill & Piibe, for Petitioner.

Regional Counsel, Western Region Immigration & Naturalization Service, Laguna Niguel, CA, Ronald E. Lefevre, Chief Legal Officer, Office of the District Counsel Department of Homeland Security, San Francisco, CA, Mary Jane Candaux, Esq., Jacqueline Dryden, DOJ—U.S. Department of Justice Civil Div./Office of Immigration Lit., Washington, DC, for Respondent.

Before: GRABER, WARDLAW, and RAWLINSON, Circuit Judges.

MEMORANDUM *

Petitioner Goarik Babayevna Agadzhanyan, an ethnic Armenian originally from Azerbaijan, challenges the BIA’s decision upholding the denial of asylum, withholding of removal and relief under the Con*880vention Against Torture (CAT) on the basis that she was firmly resettled in Russia.

Although substantial evidence supports the BIA’s conclusion that Petitioner was offered citizenship in Russia, see Nahrvani v. Gonzales, 399 F.3d 1148, 1151-52 (9th Cir.2005), the conditions of Petitioner’s residence in Russia “were so substantially and consciously restricted by the authority of the country of refuge that ... she was not in fact resettled,” Ali v. Ashcroft, 394 F.3d 780, 789 (9th Cir.2005) (citation omitted), particularly because of her lack of a propiska, which denied her the rights “ordinarily available to others resident in the country.” 8 C.F.R. § 208.15(b) (2006).

Because Petitioner was not firmly resettled in Russia, the parties agree that a remand to the BIA is appropriate for a determination of whether the Petitioner would face future persecution in Azerbaijan; the immigration judge found that Petitioner suffered past persecution on account of her ethnicity. Accordingly, we grant the petition for review and remand to the BIA to consider these claims.1 See INS v. Ventura, 537 U.S. 12, 16-17, 123 S.Ct. 353, 154 L.Ed.2d 272 (2002) (per curiam).

PETITION GRANTED; REMANDED.

Agadzhanyan v. Gonzales
176 F. App'x 879

Case Details

Name
Agadzhanyan v. Gonzales
Decision Date
Apr 21, 2006
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176 F. App'x 879

Jurisdiction
United States

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