He explained that there had been discussions about opening the border to Belarusian citizens. Latvia is ready to receive political asylum seekers, both in accordance with the law and the epidemiological security requirements set in the Covid-19 situation.
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Rinkēvičs does not currently forecast a large flow of refugees, but everything depends on the development of the situation.
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“I hope that widespread repression will not follow, but we are ready to receive political refugees without expecting very large numbers,” the politician stressed.
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So far, Latvia has not received any applications for political asylum from Belarusian citizens.
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It has already been reported that in recent years several Belarusian citizens have applied for asylum in Latvia, however, no person has been granted asylum.
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In order to protect a person’s right to privacy, the OCMA does not provide information and comments on specific cases. Therefore, the arguments of foreigners regarding the need for asylum are not publicly available, except in cases when they have appealed against the decisions of the OCMA unfavorable to them in court. Judgments that have entered into force in Latvia are officially available to the public.
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One of the cases was written by LETA in July last year, when the Administrative District Court, contrary to the OCMA decision, ordered the granting of asylum status to a businessman from Belarus, who had criticized the President of this country Alexander Lukashenko. At that time, the court ordered the OCMA to decide on the granting of alternative status.
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As reported, given the continuing violence against peaceful protesters in Belarus and the lack of political dialogue, Latvia will support the imposition of individual sanctions on Belarusian officials responsible for the crackdown on protests and electoral fraud, Rinkēvičs said.
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