Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has handed in a note to the Belarusian chargé d’affaires in Lithuania, expressing a strong protest over the detention of the Lithuanian citizen N.R. on the territory of Belarus on December 31, 2023, and his death in a detention facility.
Lithuanian consular officials were not properly informed about the Lithuanian citizen’s detention and the grounds for it, about his state of health, and were not allowed to visit the detainee and provide him with the necessary consular assistance.
“By these actions, the Republic of Belarus has seriously violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” the ministry said in a press release.
“The Republic of Lithuania demands that the Lithuania Foreign Ministry be officially informed without delay of the grounds for the detention of the Lithuania citizen, the condition of the citizen at the time of his detention, and all the relevant circumstances, as well as the confirmation of the fact of the death of the said citizen, specifying the time and the place of his death, the circumstances, and the cause of it,” it added.
The detention of a Lithuanian man was reported in January by local media in the Grodno region of Belarus. He was allegedly found in possession of smuggled ammunition. The Foreign Ministry confirmed to BNS on Tuesday that the note was handed in due to the death of this person.
According to Lithuanian Ambassador-at-Large in Belarus Asta Andrijauskienė, Lithuanian officials repeatedly requested permission to meet with the detained man, but it was not granted.
“According to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a consular officer should have the right to meet with a Lithuanian citizen, and in this case, this was requested several times, both in writing and by phone. The reply we received was that unfortunately there would be no meeting because the citizen had died,” she said.
The Belarusian authorities claim that the Lithuanian citizen died on March 5, but the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry only received confirmation of his death on Tuesday, March 12. The deceased was a Vilnius resident born in 1953.
The Foreign Ministry notes that the Belarusian authorities have recently intensified hostile and provocative actions against Lithuanian citizens in Belarus, who are being detained and subjected to fabricated accusations.
The ministry once again strongly recommends that Lithuanian citizens refrain from travelling to Belarus and that those currently in the country leave immediately.
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