{"id":508776,"date":"2026-01-10T13:13:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T10:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=508776"},"modified":"2026-01-10T16:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:09:14","slug":"lithuanian-border-service-to-assess-court-ruling-on-turning-back-migrants-to-belarus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/lithuanian-border-service-to-assess-court-ruling-on-turning-back-migrants-to-belarus","title":{"rendered":"Lithuanian Border Service to Assess Court Ruling on Turning Back Migrants to Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lithuania\u2019s State Border Guard Service will analyse the court\u2019s position after a ruling that declared the turning back of migrants at the border unlawful. This was stated in a written response by the service\u2019s spokesperson Giedrius Mi\u0161utis<\/b>, LRT reported.<\/p>\n

The State Border Guard Service (VSAT) told LRT.lt that it would \u201cassess the arguments\u201d following the court decision which found the turning back of migrants at the border illegal.<\/p>\n

\u201cVSAT always operates in accordance with the provisions and requirements of Lithuania\u2019s legal acts; the service will assess the arguments set out in the court\u2019s ruling,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania stated in its 30 December ruling that border guards acted unlawfully by turning back a migrant who had illegally crossed the border and by refusing to accept his asylum application. The court noted that the applicant had not been given a real opportunity to apply for protection on Lithuanian territory.<\/p>\n

Mishutis did not clarify whether the court decision would change the procedures for accepting asylum applications at the border or the actions of officers when turning back migrants who cross illegally.<\/p>\n

Case materials indicate that the applicant \u2014 a Sri Lankan citizen \u2014 was pushed back to the Belarusian side in October 2023 along with a group of migrants. After spending several days in the border forests, he was taken to a hospital in Lithuania with frostbite.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Rytis Satkauskas<\/b>, who represented the applicant, said this is the first case in which refusal to accept an asylum request at the border has been ruled unlawful.<\/p>\n

The court noted that responsibility lies partly with the applicant himself, who chose to cross the border illegally in cold weather, and also with Belarusian authorities, who \u201crepeatedly forced him to attempt to cross the border and did not allow him to return to inhabited settlements\u201d<\/i>. At the same time, the ruling notes that VSAT officers also bear responsibility.<\/p>\n

In the same group was a Syrian citizen who later had limbs amputated due to frostbite, according to the NGO Sienos grup\u0117.<\/p>\n

Lithuania began using the practice of pushbacks in August 2021. The authorities said the measures were necessary in response to the migration crisis, which Lithuania viewed as provoked by the Belarusian regime and used as a tool of pressure on the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lithuania\u2019s State Border Guard Service will analyse the court\u2019s position after a ruling that declared the turning back of migrants at the border unlawful. This was stated in a written response by the service\u2019s spokesperson Giedrius Mi\u0161utis, LRT reported. The State Border Guard Service (VSAT) told LRT.lt that it would \u201cassess the arguments\u201d following the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":508775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/69624f7f9c398.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Lithuanian Border Service to Assess Court Ruling on Turning Back Migrants to Belarus"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}