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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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LETA has already 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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Latvia has also decided to allocate 150,000 euros to strengthen Belarusian civil society, Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš (JV) told the media on Monday after an extraordinary meeting of the government.
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He informed that the government had taken several decisions regarding the situation in Belarus.
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First of all, the Latvian government expresses support for the desire of the Belarusian people to live in an independent and democratic country.
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Secondly, the government decided to support Belarusian civil society by allocating EUR 150 000 to strengthen it.
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Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs (JV) explained that tomorrow the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will meet with non-governmental organizations related to Belarus. During the meeting, the directions of possible projects related to the allocation of funding will be discussed.
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“One of the directions is the provision of legal aid to persons in various statuses in criminal proceedings, as well as support for the media. But this is still an open question,” the minister said.
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It has already been reported that according to the official results of the presidential elections in Belarus on August 9, the current head of state Alexander Lukashenko won 80.1% of the vote, while opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovska won 10.1%, but the opposition believes the election results are fake and convincing. won by Tikhanovsky.
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Protests against electoral fraud and President Lukashenko, who have often escalated into protests by security forces, have continued in the capital, Minsk, since 9 August. During the protests, several thousand people were detained and several hundred were injured. Workers in many companies have gone on strike.
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