Ольга Карач (справа) в Милане вместе с Катей (Украина) и Дарьей (Россия) во время турне по Италии в рамках кампании «Возражение против войны» (фото Rete Pace e Disarmo)
Lithuanian Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas said he intends to refer the activities of Volha (Olga) Karach and the organization “Our Home”, which she heads, to law enforcement agencies for a legal assessment. He wrote on Facebook.
According to the minister, over the past two years, Lithuanian authorities have identified five Belarusian citizens who were denied asylum on national security grounds but cannot be deported to Belarus.
Katelynas named Volha Karach among them. He cited an assessment by Lithuania’s State Security Department (VSD), which concluded that she poses a threat to the country’s security and cooperated with Russian intelligence services between 2015 and 2019. According to the minister, in 2024, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania also ruled that the VSD’s assessment of the threat she posed was reasoned and based on facts.
Katelynas explained that international and Lithuanian law prohibit returning a person to a country where they may face torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. He noted that criminal cases are brought against opponents of the regime in Belarus and that trials in absentia are held.
At the same time, the minister said it was necessary to assess whether such circumstances were deliberately created in individual cases and whether they were being used to make a person’s return legally impossible. He did not provide any specific evidence of such practices in his post.
According to Katelynas, the current procedure creates a situation in which a person is denied asylum on national security grounds but is granted a residence and work permit in Lithuania because deportation is impossible.
“We will refer the activities of O. Karach and the public institution ‘Our Home’, which she heads, to law enforcement agencies for a legal assessment,” the minister wrote.
He added that the activities of other people in similar circumstances, their ties to hostile states and organizations associated with them should also be assessed.
The Migration Department will check whether these individuals hold another citizenship, have the right to reside in other countries or can travel to a safe third country. In addition, the Interior Ministry intends to assess whether the state has sufficient legal tools to restrict the activities of such individuals and their associated organizations. If necessary, the ministry will initiate legislative amendments.
“If we cannot deport a person, that does not mean we should give up and leave them free to do whatever they want here,” Katelynas said.
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Volha Karach heads the Our Home Centre for Civic Initiatives. She had held a residence permit in Lithuania since 2014. In August 2023, Lithuania’s Migration Department denied her asylum, citing a threat to national security. The decision was based on an assessment by the State Security Department concerning Karach’s alleged links to Russian intelligence. The activist denied the allegations.
On January 10, 2024, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania dismissed her appeal, upholding the refusal to grant asylum. Karach said she considered the developments a campaign of harassment linked to her advocacy for the rights of Belarusians in Lithuania and intended to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
In May 2025, it became known that the ECHR had declared her application inadmissible. According to the court’s press service, a single judge made the decision in January 2025. As a result, the application was not examined on its merits.
Karach is also subject to criminal prosecution in Belarus. In 2021, the KGB added her to its list of individuals involved in terrorist activities. On July 8, 2024, the Brest Regional Court sentenced her in absentia to 12 years in prison. The charges included conspiracy to seize state power by unconstitutional means and participation in an “extremist formation”.