The Vilnius Regional Administrative Court (VRAAT) in case No eI2-2077-535/2023 found that the Migration Department unlawfully and unjustifiably failed to examine an asylum application submitted by a Cuban citizen at the Lithuanian Embassy.
Applicant deported to Cuba without an asylum decision
The applicant fled Cuba to escape persecution by the authorities for participating in pro-democracy political protests. 2021 m. In November, he applied for asylum in Lithuania at the Lithuanian Embassy in Belarus. The Migration Department delayed the processing of this application, failed to cooperate with the applicant and failed to react when the applicant warned that his permit to stay in Belarus would expire soon, as a result of which the applicant was deported to Cuba by the Belarusian authorities before the processing of his application was completed.
The Court found that, although the applicant’s application was submitted as early as 2021, the November, the first direct contact between the applicant and the Department only took place in 2022. in July, and his survey was not carried out until 2022. in August, nine months after the request was made. Under the legislation, an asylum application must be examined as soon as possible, but no later than 6 months from the date the application was lodged, or within 10 working days if it is an urgent application. After the interview, the applicant informed the Migration Department that he could no longer stay in Belarus, but the Department did not reply. In the same month, the applicant was forcibly deported from Belarus to Cuba, where he was detained and interrogated by officials and threatened with a retrial. The applicant is currently under constant attention and pressure from Cuban security officials.
The Migration Department ignored the applicant and did not cooperate with him
2022 m. In September, the applicant received a letter from the Department requesting confirmation of his whereabouts, and in October he contacted the Migration Department again, but received no information. 2023 m. In January, the Department closed the asylum application. At that time, the applicant had already lodged a complaint with the HACCP against the Department’s actions, so the Department was aware that the applicant was still maintaining his asylum application.
The SCA found that the Department had failed to comply with the time limits for examining the asylum application and had not informed the applicant when a decision on his application was expected. Furthermore, the Court noted that the Department did not react when the applicant was informed that he could no longer remain in Belarus, and in fact ignored him and did not cooperate. In the light of the above, the Court finds that the Department unlawfully and unjustifiably failed to examine the applicant’s asylum application and orders the Department to examine the application.
However, the Court did not grant the applicant’s request to order the Department to issue him a travel document to enable him to enter Lithuania and exercise his rights as an asylum seeker. An appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania is being prepared.
Asylum procedures at the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Belarus are ineffective
2022 m. The Lithuanian Red Cross study on access to asylum procedures in the diplomatic missions of the Republic of Lithuania abroad and at the border control points of the SSAT concludes that the procedure for examining asylum applications at the Lithuanian Embassy in Minsk is not properly regulated, and that people who have applied “wait in limbo and face the risk of deportation to the country of origin without receiving a decision from the DOM (Migration Department)”.
Based on 2022. according to the annual report of the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office, according to the data provided by the Department, 2022. The Lithuanian Embassy in Belarus received 27 asylum applications. Of which in 2023 Only 6 applications were processed, 9 were closed and 12 people were contacted.
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The case was initiated by the Human Rights Monitoring Institute together with the law firm Vis Legis of L. Biekša and I. Šaltė as one of the strategic cases aiming at the judicial assessment of the fundamental deficiencies in the application of the law in the Lithuanian migration and asylum system and the correction of the flawed practice of institutions.
