On Wednesday, The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled not to extend the interim measures introduced in the case of five Afghan migrants against Lithuania.
The ECHR said it made the decision due tp the Afghan citizens being in Lithuania and the government assuring “the court that they will not be expelled from Lithuania until their asylum requests are examined".
It will be open to the applicants to lodge a fresh interim measure request with the court should the circumstances so require, the ECHR said.
Read more: Five Afghan migrants request asylum in Lithuania
The court also decided to declare the case file confidential to allow the applicants to remain anonymous.
In early September, the Strasbourg court barred Lithuania from sending the five Afghans away. This ruling expires on Thursday.
The court then said the applicants were Afghanistan citizens and they had arrived in Belarus in August and had since been repeatedly attempting to enter Lithuania to seek international protection.
"They allege that they fled Afghanistan because, as westernised and educated Afghan nationals, they are particularly vulnerable to Taliban reprisals," the court said.
The migrants were detained soon after the ruling. Lithuania's State Border Guards Service (VSAT) said the five people came from Belarus, but were pushed back. In mid September, the border guards detained them again. This time, however, they were allowed to lodge asylum requests.
Lithuanian then asked the ECHR to lift the interim measures.
The VSAT said it had no information the Afghans were in Lithuanian territory on the day of their initial detention on September 9.
Asta Astrauskienė, the lawyer for the Afghans, said they lived in a farmstead in Lithuania for some time and its owners helped the migrants to contact the lawyer. Later on, she said, when the Afghans met with border guards, they were pushed back into Belarus.
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