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According to the Lovin Malta Maria Efimova applied for a political asylum in an unknown country. Can a country provide asylum to a person from a friendly country even though the actions of the person might have been correct? Doing so may perhaps harm the relations between the two countries.

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    I think correct should be incorrect. Also, can you clarify what does incorrect mean? As written, the question is quite unclear.
    – Alexei
    Commented Jan 22, 2018 at 12:09
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    Also "correct" or "incorrect" according to whom? Political asylum is usually granted when something is considered correct behavior in one country but incorrect behavior in the other.
    – Philipp ♦
    Commented Jan 22, 2018 at 13:28
  • Asylim is an internal function of a country. As such, the answer depends wholly on the country granting it. (there are international conventions governing seeking it however, as described on Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…)
    – user4012
    Commented Jan 22, 2018 at 14:53
  • @user4012 There is one extra complication, in that it appears this is a case of asking one EU country for protection from another EU country or countries, which means there are also treaty implications. This last came up regarding attempts by Spain to get hold of the Catalan leader in Belgium: euobserver.com/justice/139711
    – origimbo
    Commented Jan 22, 2018 at 15:40
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    It's nowhere near a duplicate, but purely in terms of the question as currently written, some of Relaxed's examples in the answer on politics.stackexchange.com/questions/9071/… are relevant.
    – origimbo
    Commented Jan 22, 2018 at 16:24

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Yes, it can happen.

One example is Denise Harvey, a citizen of the USA who was given asylum in Canada in 2014. Harvey had been convicted of having sex with a 16 year-old boy, which was a crime in her home state of Florida but not in Canada:

Her request for protected person status was heard by the Immigration Review Board (IRB) in July of 2012 and the IRB granted her request because it agreed her sentence was indeed cruel and unusual punishment and the crime she was convicted of is not a crime in Canada.

The USA and Canada continue to be close allies and trading partners; there is no indication this case had any significant impact on their relationship.

Obviously, a more politically charged case such as that of Julian Assange may have implications for relations between the countries involved. But the host country is still free to grant asylum, and accept the consequences to its international relationships.

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  • Just a point of continued matter, the U.S. does not make extradition treaties in which they are required to extradite for what would not be a criminal offense in the requested nations' territory and expect reciprocation. Denise Harvey wasn't given asylum so much as not extradited because of a lack of comparable offense in Canada. The asylum came because the punishment was already assigned. Canada will not extradite to the US if the accused is up for the Death Penalty for the offense, for similar reasons.
    – hszmv
    Commented Jan 24, 2018 at 15:16

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