On Monday, Lithuania filed a complaint with Belarus at the International Court of Justice (MSD) for the alleged participation in a large number of migrants across a common border. Vilnius calls for compensation as well as reimbursement of the construction of the wall at the border, TASR writes, according to Reuters and AFP reports.
“The Belarusian regime must bear legal responsibility for the organization of a wave of illegal migration and thus the associated human rights violations,” said Lithuanian Justice Minister Rimantas Mockus. “We are turning to the case of an international judicial court to send a clear signal – no state can use vulnerable persons as political figures without facing the consequences of international law,”He added.
Vilnius claims that he has evidence “confirming the direct involvement of the Belarus regime in the organization of migration flows”. Human rights groups have reported dozens of refugees at the Belarusian border in recent years.
Since 2021, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have experienced an increased number of refugees from the Middle East and Africa crossing across the common borders with Belarus. The three countries have repeatedly accused Minsk as well as Moscow, of a deliberate hybrid operation in order to increase the migration wave at the eastern border of the European Union (EU) and destabilize the entire block. Both Belarus and Russia denied charges.
Vilnius, Riga and Warsaw began to enforce the style of politics in which they try to prevent migrants from asking for asylum and forcing them to return across the border to Belarus.
