Don't kick them out ... (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Don't kick them out ...

The Eltuyev family, mum and dad Zarina and Islan with children Aslan and Said Picture Ref: 78866-193SWINDON'S England international boxer Jamie Cox will fight the corner of a Chechen family who say they face death if they are sent home.

As revealed in yesterday's Adver, Islan and Zarina Eltuyev fled their home in Chechnya in fear of Russian security forces.

The couple, who have two children, Said, seven and three-year-old Aslan, and another due next week, were sent to Swindon by the National Asylum Support Service after arriving in the UK.

Islan, 39, who is not allowed to work by law as his asylum application was rejected, has been helping out as a volunteer at the Walcot Boys' boxing club.

Harry Scott, 64, who runs the club wants Islan to stay and so does Walcot southpaw Jamie.

Jamie, 18, of West Swindon, said: "I've been going to the Walcot boys for 10 years and I would say we've all got 40 per cent better since Islan has been helping us.

"His English has got a lot better since he arrived too.

"I have got to know the family and they have told me stories about what it was like for them.

"I've said I will do anything to keep them here.

"It's terrible some of the things they have been through."

Back in Chechnya Islan was a boxing trainer. His family lost everything when they fled their homeland in 2003 following beatings and torture.

Jamie, who is this year's Senior Boxer of the Year at Walcot Boys, says the family's main concern was to stay alive.

"All he wants to do is for his family to be safe," he said.

"He used to have money back in Russia. He has gone from that to having nothing. But he says that doesn't matter as long as his family is safe."

The National Asylum Support Service provides the family with accommodation in Ipswich Street and £130 a week.

But former Greendown pupil Jamie says Islan and his wife Zarina, 27, are proud people who do not like living off handouts.

"Islan wants to work," he said. "And they feel bad about being on benefits."

And Jamie says it is not just him who has benefited from Islan's expertise.

"He is a very good trainer.

"He used to box at international level and he knows what he is doing," he said.

"I think it's wrong if they send him back.

"He has done a lot of good in Swindon.

"A lot of the lads have benefited from him being around."

The Home Office has told the Eltuyev family that they have exhausted all their rights to appeal and face deportation anytime in the next two months.

MP tells of his concern

MP for North Swindon Michael Wills says that the Eltuyev family has already been through enough trauma.

And he is angry that they are being forced to leave the country.

Mr Wills said: "Mr and Mrs Eltuyev contacted me as they are fearful that their lives and those of their children will be in danger if they return to Chechnya, and as their MP I was happy to write to the Home Office on their behalf.

"They tell me that the Russian government believe that Mr Eltuyev is a member of the Chechen rebels.

"I am concerned that this family, particularly the children, have already been traumatised by what they have experienced.

"I am disappointed that they have been refused leave to remain in the UK."

Campaigner Andy is joining in the battle

A LEADING campaigner is calling on the people of Swindon to do all they can to stop a terrified family being deported to war-torn Chechnya.

Islan and Zarina Eltuyev fled their home in the former Soviet state after suffering beatings at the hands of the Russian security forces.

The couple were sent to Swindon by the National Asylum Support Service, but now the Home Office says they must go back to Chechnya.

Now, local anti-deportation campaigner Andy Newman, who has supported others in Swindon in similar circumstances, has taken their side and wants the people of Swindon to make sure that the family are allowed to stay here.

He said: "Swindon has always been a welcoming place for those fleeing atrocities and it is something that we should always be proud of.

"The only language that the Home Office speaks is political, so we need to be as loud as possible for these people to stay.

"To send them back to Chechnya, one of the most war-torn spots in the world, is laughable, especially when they have already been subjected to beatings in the past.

"It seems that people claiming asylum not only have to prove the facts of their case but also have to battle the misconceptions put forward by the misguided national media as well as the political point-scoring of Parliament."

In the 1990s, Mr Newman was involved with a campaign to stop the deportation of a sick grandmother who was threatened with deportation to Pakistan.

Mumtaz Begum, who is now 75, had to fight for more than four years to stay in Swindon although she was unable to look after herself and had no family in Pakistan who could help her.

Mrs Begum was originally refused permission to stay with her family in 1993, and an appeal to the High Court in London failed.

She suffered from heart disease and diabetes and her family feared that the trauma of the flight back could kill her.

At one point the family even put her into hiding to stop her being deported. After a fight and a campaign involving people from Swindon, Mrs Begum was told in September, 1997, that she could stay in the country.

She is now living with her family in County Road.

Speaking on their behalf, Mr Newman, said: "She is doing extremely well by all accounts, but her family do not wish to have any more publicity after their successful campaign.

"This campaign showed how much people in Swindon care about people. We had everyone from every political party supporting her."

In 2003, the Adver reported the case of Ukrainian orphan Inna Haville, nee Melanych, who was fighting deportation from the family who rescued her from an orphanage.

Inna, who is now 21, was allowed to stay in Britain on a student visa, but after the English family from Sevenhampton tried to adopt her formally, she was told she must return to the Ukraine.

The young woman, who had lived with the Havilles since the age of 11, eventually won her battle after a high profile fight by her family putting pressure on the Home Office.