On Thursday 27 June, with the support of Amnesty International, a group of 24 people filed a class action requesting compensation for their prolonged arbitrary detention in Lithuania in 2021/22, following the declaration of an ‘emergency’ prescribing the automatic detention of people irregularly crossing the border with Belarus. The case was presented to the Regional Administrative Court, two years after Amnesty International denounced the arbitrary detention of thousands of people in Lithuania.

Attempting to legalize pushbacks of asylum seekers at Lithuania’s borders would green-light torture, Amnesty International said today ahead of this week’s expected vote in the Lithuanian Parliament on a bill that aims to legalize summary returns under domestic legislation.

Responding to the Court of Justice of the European Union’s finding today that Lithuanian national law, which orders the automatic detention of people who cross irregularly into the country and effectively denies them the right to asylum, is incompatible with EU laws, said Nils Muižnieks, Europe Regional Director of Amnesty International: 

Lithuanian authorities have arbitrarily detained thousands of people in militarized centres, where they have been subjected to inhumane conditions, torture and other ill-treatment, Amnesty International said today. In a new report, the organization documents how refugees and migrants have been held for months on end in squalid, prison-like centres in Lithuania, where they are denied access to fair asylum procedures and subjected to other serious human rights violations in the hope that they will ‘voluntarily’ return to the countries they fled from.

21/02/2014 – Amnesty International has welcomed the decision of the Lithuanian Prosecutor General to open an investigation into the alleged rendition to Lithuania of Mustafa al-Hawsawi. The decision comes after the Vilnius Regional Court ruled on 28 January that al-Hawsawi had a right to an investigation of his claims.

The Lithuanian court has set an example for all of Europe and the USA by upholding the rule of law and recognising that victims of torture and enforced disappearance at the hands of the CIA and European agents have an absolute right to a thorough investigation.

29/10/2013 – In July, Amnesty International issued recommendations as to how the Lithuanian EU presidency might maximise its potential to promote human rights both within and beyond EU borders.

It is shameful that the EU’s six million Roma still face systematic discrimination, and are often targets of racially motivated violence. Lithuania now can and must ensure that the expected Council recommendations on Roma integration measures tackle discrimination and guarantee Roma participation at all levels of decision-making

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL