Belarusian activist Olga Karach has appealed against the Lithuanian Migration Department’s decision not to grant her asylum, her lawyer confirmed on Friday. Lithuania’s intelligence claims Karach is a threat to national security due to links with Russian intelligence.
“The appeal has been filed,” lawyer Rytis Satkauskas told BNS.
He refused to specify the arguments used in the complaint, saying the asylum case is not public.
According to the lawyer, the complaint has been filed with the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court. A court spokeswoman confirmed to BNS that the complaint was received on Thursday.
Last week’s decision by the Migration Department not to grant Karach asylum was based on a report by the State Security Department (VSD), alleging that the Belarusian had links with Russian intelligence and therefore posed a threat to Lithuania’s national security.
However, the Migration Department granted a temporary residence permit to Karach, which can be extended.
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Karach, which heads the NGO Nash Dom (Our House), will have the status of an asylum seeker, which also allows her to remain in Lithuania.
Karach confirmed this week that she had been approached by VSD officials last spring over contacts with Russian intelligence, but did not comment any further.
The activist has been receiving residence permits in Lithuania since 2014 and applied for asylum last year.
Her organisation, Our House, says it is monitoring human rights in Belarus and works to provide humanitarian, psychological and other assistance to Belarusians in Lithuania and back at home.
The organisation was declared extremist by the Minsk government in 2022 and added to the terrorist list by the Belarusian KGB in 2021.
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