Doctors declared that she was unfit to travel. She will be allowed to remain in the country at least as long as she is being treated at hospital.

On Wednesday morning, Immigration Police attempted to carry out a standing deportation order. Relatives took her in a wheelchair to Munkkivuori Lutheran Church, which offered Antonova symbolic sanctuary.

The deportation order had been in force for more than a year, following the 2008 decision by the Finnish Immigration Service. On Tuesday, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that it would not bar police from carrying out the order. Police told representatives of the 81-year-old that she would be escorted from her home to the Russian border.

Relatives say she would not be able to cope with the deportation on her own due to her poor health -- nor does she have any relatives in Russia.

The Supreme Administrative Court received a report on Antonova’s health status Tuesday, but decided that it did not provide any grounds for another decision on the deportation – either to overturn or affirm it.

The Helsinki Administrative Court upheld the decision in 2009. Antonova appealed that decision in October 2009 before the Supreme Administrative Court, which now says the matter of Antonova’s residence permit and any appeal relating to her imminent deportation could be settled later this spring.

Antonova’s son-in-law Ari Laitanen said he was disappointed with the decision. He said the woman’s lawyers filed a new appeal against the deportation order as recently as the end of January. The decision came just 10 days later.

Favourable Decision for Another Elderly Woman

In an unrelated case, another elderly Russian woman was allowed to remain in Tampere with her daughter, following a decision by the Hämeenlinna Administrative Court. The Court granted the woman a residence permit on humanitarian grounds.

The 79-year-old arrived in Finland about one year ago, but applied for a residence permit on the basis of her weakening health. The Immigration Service rejected the application, but the Administrative Court first barred the woman’s deportation before overturning the permit decision.