Армия Литвы охраняет границу с Беларусью. Фото: facebook.com/kariuomene
An Iraqi national, Sh. J. H. O. H. O., will stand trial in Lithuania on charges of illegally smuggling at least 37 of his compatriots across the Belarusian border in 2021. The criminal case has been referred to the Vilnius Regional Court.
According to the Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office, the crimes were committed between April and July 2021 “for financial gain” and as part of an organized group. The prosecution alleges that the defendant acted together with accomplices based in Iraq, Turkey, Belarus, Lithuania and Germany.
While in Belarus, the man allegedly coordinated the plan and actions to transport foreigners across the border, promising to arrange their onward travel to Western European countries after arrival in Lithuania. The group was expected to receive at least $65,000 in payment for its services, prosecutors said.
The case was separated from a large-scale investigation launched in June 2021 into what authorities described as “instrumentalized migration” — the organization of mass smuggling of foreigners across the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. The pre-trial investigation was conducted by officers of the criminal unit of Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service under the procedural supervision of a prosecutor from the Prosecutor General’s Office.
At the end of 2024, the defendant was detained in Armenia on the basis of a European arrest warrant, and in September 2025 he was extradited to Lithuania. The strictest preventive measure — detention — has been imposed on him.
Prosecutors also recalled that on February 7, 2024, the Vilnius Regional Court had already delivered a verdict against one of the defendant’s accomplices. The Iraqi national was found guilty of organizing the illegal smuggling of people across the border and sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, with the term reduced by one third.