VZCZCXYZ0008
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHYE #0540/01 2161347
ZNY EEEEE ZZH
R 041347Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9357
RUEAHLA/HQ CIS IAO WASHINGTON DC
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHDC
RUEPICA/USCIS WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 1624
RUEHFT/AMCONSUL FRANKFURT 1936

UNCLAS E F T O YEREVAN 000540 
 
SENSITIVE NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR CA/VO/F/P (MEEARL) AND CA/FPP (RSBILLINGS) 
USCIS FOR ASYLUM BRANCH (KTURO AND KMACK) 
MOSCOW FOR USCIS (SSINCLAIR-SMITH) 
FRANKFURT FOR RCO (KBROUGHAM) AND ICE (GSPINDEL) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CVIS KFRD PHUM PREF AM
SUBJECT: EVIDENCE OF POSSIBLE FRAUDULENT ASYLUM CLAIM - 
ASATRYAN, VAHRAM - DOB 29 OCT 1975, A89780549 
 
THIS CABLE CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT IS SENSITIVE BUT 
UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1. (SBU/NF) Summary: Evidence has come to light during a Visa 
92 following-to-join interview that suggests Mr. Vahram 
ASATRYAN, Alien Registration Number 89780549, submitted a 
fraudulent claim for asylum.  As per 9 FAM Appendix O, 
1207.2-5(A), Post is reporting these details to CA/VO/F/P, 
CA/FPP and USCIS.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU/NF) Armenian citizen Mr. Vahram ASATRYAN entered the 
U.S. in B2 status on 22AUG2007 and claimed asylum on 
12AUG2008.  The basis for his claim to asylum was 
persecution, threats, beatings and detention he had received 
as a result of his political activity and attending a 
political rally in support of the opposition prior to the 
2007 Armenian parliamentary elections.  Specifically, Mr. 
ASATRYAN noted in his I-589 statement that he attended an 
opposition rally on May 9, 2007, that was broken up by 
Armenian Special Forces. Mr. Asatryan was beaten at the 
rally, arrested, severely beaten in detention and then 
released after spending one night in a holding cell.  As a 
result of beatings, Mr. ASATRYAN was incapacitated for one 
week, according to his statement.  Approximately three months 
later, Mr. ASATRYAN left for the United States.  Continuing 
threats from the police, received after he left Armenia, 
compelled his wife and children to temporarily move to his 
parents' house.  USCIS granted Vahram ASATRYAN asylum on 
13AUG2008. 
 
¶3. (SBU/NF) On 22APR2009, Post interviewed Mr. ASATRYAN's 
wife Laura Asatryan and their three children for Visas 92 
following-to-join status.  As part of routine preparation for 
the interview, the consular officer reviewed the principal 
applicant's case file including Mr. Asatryan's I-589 
application for asylum.  During his interview, the consular 
officer interviewed Mr. Asatryan's wife Laura Asatryan 
separately from their children. The consular officer asked 
Ms. Asatryan about her life in Armenia and if she or her 
husband had ever experienced any persecutions or beatings 
while living in Armenia.  Ms. Asatryan vowed and signed a 
sworn statement that she had lived in Armenia with her 
husband Vahram Asatryan from the time of their 1998 wedding 
until his trip to the United States, and that during that 
period her husband had never participated in a political 
rally, been beaten, or arrested.  Ms. Asatryan further swore 
that she had lived in the same apartment from the day of her 
marriage to the day of her asylee follow-to-join interview. 
Finally, Ms. Asatryan stated that she had asked her husband 
not to return to Armenia for the future of her children, 
implying his purpose in getting to the U.S. was to work to 
send money home to his family.  Ms. Asatryan stated that, 
unlike her husband, she had participated in a political rally 
on March 1, 2008, in Yerevan, but escaped unharmed from the 
police crackdown that followed.  Ms. Asatryan's sworn 
statement has been scanned into the NIV record for Ms. 
Asatryan's YY transportation foil and can be accessed through 
the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD). 
 
¶4. (SBU/NF) Given the conflicting information provided by 
Laura Asatryan, Post suspects that Vahram Asatryan's original 
claim for asylum was fraudulent.  Mr. Asatryan stated in his 
I-589 Asylum Application that he participated in a political 
rally in May 2007, and was subsequently arrested and severely 
beaten to the point that he could barely walk or leave his 
apartment for one week.  His wife, conversely, swears that 
her husband never attended a political rally and never was 
beaten or arrested.  Post finds it highly unlikely that a 
wife of nine years would not notice when her husband has been 
beaten severely. Further, Ms. Asaatryan directly said she 
asked her husband to stay in the United States, not out of a 
sense of credible fear, but for their children's future.  As 
a result of these inconsistencies, Post concludes that Mr. 
Asatryan's I-589 includes disinformation.  Post believes this 
disinformation necessarily casts doubts on the rest of the 
information of record in this case. 
 
¶5. (SBU/NF) To preserve the principal applicant's 
confidentiality, the questions put to Laura Asatryan were all 
factual questions to confirm information for the record.  The 
consular officer's questioning was such that he never stated 
that Mr. Vahram Asatryan had received asylum or intimated 
 
that one reason for his departure from Armenia was that Mr. 
Asatryan had difficulties in Armenia.  Nonetheless, the 
interview showed that Laura Asatryan appeared to be aware 
that her husband received asylum status in the U.S.  Laura 
Asatryan was interviewed in a private room where no one could 
overhear the conversation. 
 
¶6. (SBU/NF) Post issued Ms. Asatryan and her three children 
their YY transportation foil as they qualify for Visa 92 
following-to-join status in all other respects.  Their 
information is as follows: Ms. Laura Asatryan (wife), DOB 08 
OCT 1976, Alien Registration Number 89702895; Ms. Emma 
Asatryan (daughter), DOB 17 NOV 1998, Alien Registration 
Number 89702896; Ms. Angela Asatryan (daughter), DOB 11 JUN 
2001, Alien Registration Number 89702897; and Mr. Sergey 
Asatryan (son), DOB 15 NOV 2007, Alien Registration Number 
¶89702898.  The Asatryan family's intended address in the 
United States is c/o of the petitioner Mr. Vahram Asatryan at 
631 Magnolia Blvd #103; Burbank, CA 91501. 
 
¶7. (U) Post point of contact is Vice Consul Brian T. Smith, 
smithbt@state.gov. 
YOVANOVITCH