The name of Maria Amelie, or Maria Salamova has been in the media a
lot recently. Maria's family emigrated from North Ossetia, as they faced serious business problems. They arrived in Finland together with her family in 2002 as asylum seekers. After being turned down for asylum there, they travelled to Norway and filed an application for asylum there in 2002. The application was turned down by the Norwegian immigration authorities, and the appeal was turned down by the Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board in 2003. She and her family then filed a lawsuit, but the Oslo District Court found in favour of the decision of March 2004. After the verdict, Maria Amelie and her family went into hiding. Maria studied Norwegian and managed to graduate from school and university there. Maria depicted her emotions and experiences living in a foreign country without any documents in her book 'Illegal Norwegian'. In 2010 she was named "Norwegian of the year" by the leftist Norwegian news magazine Ny Tid, because of her contributions to the public debate on the political and social rights of undocumented immigrants in Norway.
In 2011, she became the center of a political controversy when she was arrested and denied asylum or residency on humanitarian grounds in Norway. The Oslo District Court originally remanded her into custody until her deportation, but she was released after appealing to the Borgarting Appeals Court. Despite the fact that Maria was engaged to a Norwegian or that her life would be in danger if she returned to her motherland and human rights activists as well as public protests against her arrest and deportation, last Monday she was send to Russia. Another 50 'illegal' residents were deported from Norway the next day; most of them were from the Caucasus. Media reports indicate that this action has been being prepared for a long time, but the incident with Maria Amelie triggered these swift measures.
Of course, the Norwegian writer's life is not at greater risk in North Ossetia than any other life, but Ossetian public organizations as well as the community itself supports her choice to spend her life in Norway.
Meanwhile, Maria is staying in a Moscow hotel. She has to get an internal Russian as well as an international-travel passport, and only then will she be able to apply for a job-permit in Norway. The Norwegian government decided to cancel a year-long quarantine for those deported from the country, so Maria will be able to apply as soon as she wants.
This whole situation brings up an important issue: people should not be denied their right to live and work wherever they choose to. This issue is important throughout the world, and North Ossetia is no exception.
Tamara Bunturi, Vladikavkaz. Exclusively for VK.
