Solicitor outraged at treatment of Belarus lawyer

A north London solicitor has called on the profession to unite in backing an asylum-seeking lawyer from Belarus who this week received bail after being locked up since arriving in the UK last year.

Immigration law sole practitioner Elizabeth Miller argued that human rights lawyer Oleg Kuts arrived at Gatwick airport in December 2001 with genuine grounds for claiming asylum, having gained a high profile in the political opposition in his home country.However, Mr Kuts was immediately detained and now looks set to be deported to France under the Dublin Convention - which determines which countries are responsible for which asylum seekers - because he has a visa on his passport issued by the French embassy.It was embarrassing that a fellow lawyer should be treated in such a way in this country, Ms Miller added.

'[Mr Kuts] is not as impressed as he thought he would be by the UK's adherence to human rights,' she said.Paula Rohan