Asylum seekers currently detained in Lithuania could soon be granted the right to move freely in the country. There are fears that some will use the opportunity to travel to Western Europe.
The court granted 34 people detained in Kybartai Foreigners’ Registration Centre a right move freely and leave the premises.
“If a person’s identity is established, they have documents, and all procedures are completed, there is no risk. If [migrants] hide their identity or cannot be identified, the court decides that movement is only possible at the place of accommodation,” Giedrius Klimavičius, head of the Kybartai centre, told LRT TV.
Once foreigners are granted the right to free movement, they can leave the centre for 24 hours. But 19 migrants who were allowed to move freely never came back to the centre in Kybartai.
“There is a procedure. [...] If these people are detained in Poland or Germany, they will be returned to us in any case,” said Deputy Interior Minister Vitalij Dmitrijev.
Last year, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland saw thousands of people, mostly from Africa and the Middle East, enter the countries irregularly from Belarus. Officials in Brussels and Vilnius say the Minsk regime launched a “hybrid attack” in response to EU sanctions over repressions against the Belarusian opposition.
Under the current legislation, irregular migrants can be detained for up to 18 months, with decisions taken every six months. The 12-month deadline is now approaching, but Lithuanian Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė said the ministry will propose not to extend the restriction for another six months.
Read more: Lithuania not to extend detention of asylum seekers – minister
According to Klimavičius, head of the Kybartai Foreigners’ Registration Centre, most migrants want “to be able to move freely but to live here”, so there should not be a significant increase in the number of those trying to flee if the court decides to terminate migrant’s detention.
“I’ve heard the [interior] minister’s speech. She said that we will all be free after a year. I have one month left, and I will be free. We will see how it goes. Maybe I will get a work permit, I will look for a job,” Iraqi Halim Alrubajewe told LRT TV.
Currently, over 2,500 migrants are accommodated in five migrant centres in Lithuania. The country’s authorities are offering them a voluntary return to their country of origin with pay-outs of up to 1,000 euros.
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