Fresh call for inquiry into asylum suicides

Published on Friday 12 March 2010 21:56

CAMPAIGNERS have stepped up their calls for a fatal accident inquiry into the deaths of three asylum seekers who leapt from a tower block.

MSP Anne McLaughlin has written to the Lord Advocate requesting an official hearing into the case of the Russian family who were found at the bottom of their 31-storey building in Glasgow on Sunday.

It is understood the group, named by local welfare organisations as Serguei Serykh, his wife Tatiana and his stepson, had been living in the Red Road flats in Springburn for a short time after arriving from Canada.

The UK Border Agency said it had advised the family that arrangements were being made to return them to the country where they had previously been granted protection.

The deaths are said to have traumatised the community, which houses many asylum seekers.

Ms McLaughlin, an SNP member for Glasgow, said: "We don't know exactly what led to their deaths but people living in the area are extremely distressed.

"For the sakes of the three people who lost their lives, we absolutely have to have some sort of inquiry to find out if there were systematic failures that led to their deaths.

"There are other people in similar situations and we need to do it for their sakes as well."

Two local groups, Positive Action in Housing and the Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees, said the tragedy had highlighted the plight of those seeking asylum and they demanded changes to the system.

During First Minister's Questions at Holyrood yesterday, Alex Salmond suggested a fatal accident inquiry could take place.

A vigil was held at the tower block on Tuesday and a group of about 30 protesters gathered outside the offices of the UK Border Agency in Govan. A rally is set to take place in the city centre today.

A Red Road resident broke down at yesterday's conference at Petershill leisure centre, admitting that she too had contemplated suicide.

The mother, who did not want to be identified, said she thought about taking her life before Christmas rather than face being sent back to her country.

She said: "I'm so upset about this because I wanted to kill myself as well.

"I was thinking, 'Who is going to take care of my child?'

"They didn't want to die – the situation makes them want to kill themselves."

Robina Qureshi, of Positive Action in Housing, described the Red Road flats as a "ghetto of people who have been pushed to the brink by the Home Office".

She said documents showed that government officials were aware of the risk of suicide in the family's case.

She said: "I've seen documents to do with the family.

"These documents show that the Home Office was absolutely aware that that family were going to kill themselves.

"That family had stated it and they had it on record that the family were vulnerable."

A statement issued by the UK Border Agency after the tragedy said no officers were in the vicinity of the flats when the family died and no "imminent" action to remove them from the UK had been planned.