Contrary to the decision of the Citizenship and Migration Affairs Board (PMLP), the Administrative District Court ordered the state to provide asylum in Latvia to a Russian citizen who protested against the Russian government, according to the publicly available court verdict.
Contrary to the decision of the Citizenship and Migration Affairs Board (PMLP), the Administrative District Court ordered the state to provide asylum in Latvia to a Russian citizen who protested against the Russian government, according to the publicly available court verdict.
Last May, a Russian citizen applied to the State Border Guard with applications for granting refugee or alternative status in Latvia.
They asked for political asylum in Latvia, because staying in Russia threatens their safety and freedom due to their political views and active position.
In the last ten years, the woman has actively expressed her dissatisfaction with the policy implemented by the Russian government in social networks, in public places, as well as at the workplace.
In the context of the Ukrainian war, the applicant’s Ukrainian roots play a very big role, she perceives the occupation of Crimea very painfully, she has met many Ukrainians on the social network “Facebook”, with whom she still often communicates.
Since 2012, both have participated in protest actions directed against the state power, which were initially sanctioned, later – unsanctioned. For example, in 2014, the applicants participated in a peace march against the occupation of Crimea.
They have also financially supported those detained during protest actions for many years.
In 2014, Russian citizens visited their friends in Latvia, who had already moved from St. Petersburg to Latvia, and decided that they should do everything themselves to move to live in this country.
In 2015, Russian citizens bought an apartment in Riga.
On February 26, 2022, a woman got involved in a political discussion in a bank, during which she expressed her dissatisfaction with state power and the war in Ukraine. The bank’s security service has reportedly asked to end the dispute. A few days later, the woman received a phone call with a request to come to a meeting with the Russian Federal Security Service.
After the mentioned incident, Russian citizens left Russia in March 2022. While already in Latvia, both of them visited the anti-Russian protest action that took place in Riga on April 24, 2022, which was filmed, and the scene in which the woman is seen with a poster in her hands was shown on Russian television.
The PMLP decided to deny the two refugee and alternative status, so both went to court.
The court decided to instruct PMLP to issue a favorable administrative act within a month, which would grant the woman refugee status in Latvia. The man’s application was rejected, but the court also stated that, taking into account the fact that the woman is granted refugee status, she has the right to family reunification, after which the man will have the right to receive a permanent residence permit and continue to stay in Latvia.
The representatives of PMLP already pointed out at the end of last year that, according to the practice so far, the Administrative District Court has only in very rare cases changed the decision made by the administration on granting or refusing to grant refugee or alternative status. There have been such court judgments in the cases of citizens of various third countries.
