After reporting the death of a Lithuanian citizen in a Belarusian prison, the country's ambassador for special assignments, Asta Andrijauskienė, informs that requests for a meeting with the individual were made multiple times. However, according to her, Belarusian authorities responded that arranging a meeting was impossible because the person had already passed away
„The Lithuanian national was detained at the end of December last year at the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. The Embassy received information about this in January, and, of course, we immediately asked for a meeting with this Lithuanian citizen. We have written, requested and asked for a meeting many times. Since we did not receive it, we wrote another note,“ Lithuanian Ambassador for Special Duties in Belarus Asta Andrijauskienė told a press conference on Tuesday.
However, she said, the Lithuanian authorities were told that a meeting with the detainee was not possible because he was dead.
„In response to this note, we received a reply from the Belarusian authorities that it would not be possible to organise a meeting, as the Lithuanian citizen is dead,“ said Andrijauskienė.
„In response to this information, we, of course, called the Belarusian temporary charge d'affaires in Lithuania and asked him to provide information on the circumstances of the Lithuanian citizen's arrest, the circumstances of his death, the causes of his death, the time of his death, and all other information at their disposal,“ she added.
According to Andrijauskienė, the information provided by the Belarusian Ministry states that the person died on 9 March.
„Today, we have received a note from the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirming the fact and date of the death of the Lithuanian citizen, but we have not received any other information. Therefore, we have been asked once again to provide all the information about the circumstances of this event,“ Andrijauskienė said.
According to the data available to the embassy data, the victim was a person from Vilnius, born in 1953. The Ambassador also noted that the family of the deceased could not be contacted so far.
The Lithuanian citizen was detained at the border.
There are more detentions
According to Ms Andrijauskienė, there are cases when Lithuanian citizens detained in Belarus are not officially informed about their detention, and the Ministry only learns about them from concerned relatives.
„Many citizens are detained under very different circumstances. There are many cases when people are detained for 24 hours or 72 hours, and we do not receive any official information; we only receive information from relatives that they have been missing, and have gone to Belarus,“ said Andrijauskienė.
„We have people who have been detained for a long time, for more than a year, but we have cases where the person will never return,“ she added, stressing that she could not comment in detail on the number of detainees.
According to her, the Belarusian law enforcement authorities imagination is limitless, so some accusations against Lithuanian citizens are made up.
ELTA recalls that on Tuesday, a note was handed to the Belarusian temporary charge d'affaires in Lithuania regarding a Lithuanian man who was detained on Belarusian territory in December last year and who died in prison.
„Lithuanian consular officials were not properly informed about the Lithuanian citizen's detention and the reasons for it, about his health condition, and were not allowed to visit the detainee and provide him with the necessary consular assistance. By such actions, Belarus has seriously violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,“ the Ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (URM) strongly urges Belarus to immediately officially inform Belarus about the grounds for the detention of the Lithuanian citizen, the condition of the citizen at the time of arrest and all the relevant circumstances, as well as to confirm the fact of the death of the said citizen, as well as to indicate the time and place of death and the reasons for it.
