VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A former KGB staffer who has taken refuge in a Canadian church to avoid deportation said Friday that the government should reconsider his case in light of newly released documents.

Mikhail Lennikov took sanctuary in a Lutheran church in Vancouver, British Columbia, in June after his application to stay in Canada was denied on security grounds.

Lennikov, 48, and a Canadian lawmaker said Friday that they have government documents that do not support the federal government’s claim that he poses a risk to national security.

Lennikov, who arrived in Canada in 1997, says he was up front about his past at the KGB since his arrival in Canada and even gave Canada’s spy agency a debriefing on the KGB.

(AP)