Migrants were held in inhumane conditions in Lithuania, the Seimas ombudsperson has told the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The Seimas Ombudspersons’ Office said on Wednesday it had submitted its first position to the ECHR in a case concerning the detention of migrants in Lithuania.
An Iraqi national brought a case against Lithuania for restricting his freedom of movement by transferring him to temporary accommodation. He claims that Lithuania violated his right to freedom and not to be subjected to inhumane treatment.
Seimas Ombudsperson Erika Leonaitė told the Strasbourg court that the accommodation conditions and restrictions foreigners were subjected to amounted to de facto detention.
“Moreover, for a certain period of time, the conditions at the Kybartai Foreigners’ Registration Centre amounted to inhumane and degrading treatment,” the report states.
The Seimas ombudsperson said that all asylum seekers in Lithuania were at the time accommodated at closed accommodation facilities without the right to move freely within the territory of the country.
She also brought to the attention of the ECHR that at the Kybartai facility people were not only barred from leaving the premises and the territory of the centre but were also not allowed to move freely between the different floors.
Leonaitė also noted that the conditions in Kybartai amounted to inhumane and degrading treatment because the shower areas were open and hot water was available only once a week in a separate building.
According to the Seimas ombudsperson, the right of foreigners to receive state-guaranteed legal aid during the processing of their asylum applications or to appeal against the deprivation of their freedom was only formally ensured.
The Iraqi national who filed the complaint against Lithuania was detained by Lithuanian border guards on July 25, 2021, near the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. The man immediately asked for asylum and was then temporarily accommodated in Druskininkai. He was moved to a camp in Rūdninkai on July 30 and was later transferred to Kybartai. During his temporary accommodation, he did not have the right to move within the territory of Lithuania.
The Iraqi national informed the Strasbourg court in October 2022 that he was living in Germany.
The ECHR said earlier it was examining complaints from Cuban, Syrian, and Iraqi citizens about the refusal to allow them to enter Lithuania and the restriction of freedom of movement.
Almost 4,200 migrants crossed into Lithuania from Belarus in 2021. Most of them lived for a year at registration centres without the right to leave. Most of them left Lithuania after this period ended.
Lithuania and the EU believe the wave of irregular migration was a hybrid attack orchestrated by the Belarusian regime. To counter it, Lithuanian border guards were given the right in August 2021 to turn irregular migrants away. Since then, Lithuania has blocked more than 20,500 migrants from entering from Belarus.
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