The Supreme Court yesterday unanimously dismissed appeals by a Russian man against High Court decisions arising from the refusal to grant him refugee status.
The man, a divorcee and father of two, who is in his 50s, arrived here in 1999.
He claimed refugee status on grounds relating to his fear of persecution arising from his ethnic Jewish background and his membership of the Russian Communist Party from 1976 to 1989.
He also claimed he was kidnapped by Chechen paramilitaries and held captive for over a year before he secured his freedom by selling his property and giving the proceeds to the Chechens.
He claimed he was afraid to return to Russia because he still owed $5,000 to the Chechens.
His application for asylum was deemed "manifestly unfounded" in June 2000, and his appeal against that finding was rejected in September 2000.
He then took High Court proceedings challenging the procedures by which those decisions were reached.
Ms Justice McGuinness upheld a decision by the High Court allowing the man to bring judicial review proceedings on one ground only, relating to the failure to grant the man an oral hearing at the appeal stage.
She also upheld the High Court's decision rejecting the man's substantive judicial review application.
The judge said she accepted some of the criticisms of the decision-making process leading to the finding that the man's application was manifestly unfounded.
The essential matter to be investigated was why the man left Russia and why he feared to return there.
The other four Supreme Court judges agreed with Ms Justice McGuinness's judgment