MOSCOW, August 8 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court has suspended the ordered deportation of Ali Feruz (Khudoberdy Nurmatov), a reporter for Novaya Gazeta newspaper, to Uzbekistan, over the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), RAPSI correspondent reports from the courtroom on Tuesday.

The deportation process will remain halted while the journalist’s case is reviewed by ECHR. The Moscow court also fined Feruz 5,000 rubles (about $83) and put him in a special temporary residence center for foreign citizens.

On August 4, ECHR held that Feruz can’t be deported during the hearing of his case in Strasbourg.

On August 3, a court in Moscow ruled that Ali Feruz must be deported for violating emigration rules. The journalist pleaded not guilty. Feruz said that his life would be in danger if he is deported.

Feruz, who applied for refugee status in Russia in 2014, was forced to leave Uzbekistan in 2008 because of refusal to cooperate with the country’s security agencies and tortures.

The Union of Journalists, Amnesty International and Russia's Presidential Council for Human Rights have already asked the authorities not to deport Feruz. The Human Rights Council claimed that the ordered deportation of Feruz to Uzbekistan contravenes Russia's Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman of the Russian President, said in turn that the authorities are aware of this problem. The situation is rather complicated, and several factors do not allow to put aside the occurred violations, he added.