Ex-KGB Agent: Refugee in Church Sanctuary

by cyn.khoo | June 4, 2009 at 12:10 pm

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Ex-KGB agent Mikhail Lennikov has taken refuge in the First Lutheran Church in Vancouver, BC.

Lennikov has been battling to obtain permission to stay in Canada, for the past several years. He worked five years for the Soviet secret police, the KGB (Komityet Gosudarstvjennoj Biezopasnosti), quitting in the late 1980s.

According to Lennikov, he has been a model citizen since his 1997 arrival and never hidden the fact of his KGB involvement. Despite that, Canadian immigration and public safety officials refuse to let him remain in the country, citing "on security grounds".

Mr. Van Loan would not say what he meant by “security grounds,” but in a follow-up e-mail, a press aide to the minister cited a section of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that states that a person can be ruled inadmissible on security grounds for being a member of an agency that conducts espionage against Canada or other countries.

Signatures or letters of support from nearly two dozen Liberal, Bloc Québécois, and NDP MPs in Ottawa, including Lennikov's own MP Peter Julian, have been sent to Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. Further supporters include Lennikov's church congregation and dozens of other constituents who have called Julian on the behalf ot he Lennikov family.

While claiming sanctuary in a church is illegal in Canada, Pastor Richard Hergesheimer believes his church is doing the right thing.

If deported to Russia, Lennikov may face repercussions in his home country.

“I've got nothing to lose,” Mr. Lennikov said in a telephone interview from inside the church. “It's not my intention to anger anyone,” he continued, but added he never had any intention of boarding the Russia-bound plane. Leaving Canada that way, he said would mean he might never see his wife and teenage son again. Mr. Lennikov's wife, Irina, and son, Dmitri, who at one point also faced deportation, have been given the green light to apply for permanent residence status. Mr. Lennikov's deportation will effectively tear the family apart.

“I'm going to stay until we can find a solution to keep us together as a family,” he said.