Having worked in a Russian prison is not a sufficient reason to be deemed a threat to national security, a court in Vilnius decided in a case of Russian national who has been denied a residence permit.
Vilnius Regional Administrative Court has upheld an appeal, annulling the Migration Department’s decision to revoke the Russian citizen’s permanent residence permit.
According to the court, the claimant’s permit was revoked because his residence in the country was deemed a threat to national security. However, the authorities failed to consider his individual circumstances.
The State Security Department concluded that the “the applicant had worked until 2002 in the Sakhalin enhanced regime correctional colony Smirnykh in the penitentiary system of the Russian Federation, which presupposes a possible vulnerability and a consequent threat”.
According to the judges, other than the work in the prison, no other facts were presented to show that the Russian citizen has ever cooperated with Russian intelligence.
A decision which effectively requires a person to leave the country cannot be based to a “declaratory phrase” that the national security of the state is the overriding interest, the court said. There must be a detailed individual assessment as to why the measure applies in the particular case.
According to the court, the decision to take away the residence permit does not take into account that the person was born in Lithuania, that he has family ties here and is employed in the country.
Moreover, the court pointed out, the man speaks Lithuanian and is entitled to apply for the Lithuanian citizenship, which is why he was previously granted the residence permit in the first place.
This decision has been appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania.
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