Containment and abandonment at the EU-Belarus border
On 10 August 2021, Latvia introduced a state of emergency (Order No. 518 of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia on the Declaration of Emergency Situation) blocking migrants from accessing asylum procedures in four Latvian regions. Since, Latvia is the only EU Member State that has explicitly legalised ‘pushbacks’. For over a year, its border area became an informal detention zone in which migrants—many from Kurdish and Yazidi communities—were subject to inhuman and degrading treatment, including torture, while being denied the possibility to access international protection. Latvian authorities have actively concealed information on ‘pushbacks’, and EU institutions have persistently failed to take any enforcement measures in response to this ongoing situation, enabling and endorsing this “lawless law” (Ancite-Jepifánova, Ganty & Kochenov).
The cases of A.R., A.Z., and S.A. were the first set of interventions to be brought before the Latvian authorities concerning patterns of violence taking place along its border with Belarus. After having been rejected by the Latvian authorities due to ‘insufficient evidence’, though without proper investigation, they are currently pending before the European Court of Human Rights (see A.R. v Latvia, A.Z. v Latvia, and S.A. v Latvia).
cASES
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A.R., A.Z., and S.A.: Complaints before Latvia’s Public Prosecutor
Filed between September and December 2022 with the Latvian Public Prosecutor, these three complaints concern the treatment that the applicants have endured at the Latvia-Belarus border at the hands of Latvian authorities, respectively between October 2021 and April 2022 (A.R.), December 2021 and February 2022 (A.Z.), and August 2021 and April 2022 (S.A.).
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A.R. v Latvia, A.Z. v Latvia, and S.A. v Latvia: Torture, life endangerment, and refoulement in Latvia-Belarus borderlands
Three applications, filed between November 2023 and December 2023 to the European Court of Human Rights, concerning systemic patterns of border violence by the Latvian authorities at the Latvia-Belarus border that occurred between October 2021 and April 2022 (A.R.), December 2021 and February 2022 (A.Z.), and August 2021 and April 2022 (S.A.).