Gueorgui Krouchevski v. John D. Ashcroft

ILANA DIAMOND ROVNER, Circuit Judge.

A few days after his arrival in the United States, Gueorgui Krouchevski applied for asylum under 8 U.S.C. § 1158. According to his application, Krouchevski belonged to an anti-communist group in his native Bulgaria — the Alliance of Democratic Forces — and feared that he would be put in jail if he returned to that country. In 1994, the Asylum Office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service denied the application and initiated deportation proceedings against Krouchevski, who conceded deportability but renewed his request for asylum or a withholding of…