“It’s been three days since we got stuck here. Every time they send us to a different location. We’ve been beaten up and electrocuted… This is the fifth time we’ve been sent back from Belarus to this border area,” Rawa Yasin, a migrant from the Kurdistan Region, said on the border in a video submitted to Rudaw.
In recent weeks, some 4,000 migrants entered Lithuania from Belarus. Some 2,800 are Iraqis, including Kurds. The Lithuanian government accused Belarus of sending the asylum seekers across the border, weaponizing migrants in a bid to pressure the European Union to lift sanctions imposed after Belarus diverted a Ryanair flight to Minsk and arrested a dissident.
The Lithuanian government has beefed up its security on the border and has blocked the entry of irregular migrants.
“Look guys, this is the Belarus-Lithuania border. These are the flags of both countries here. Police here are adamant that they won’t allow us in [to Lithuania]. They have told our men that we must return [to Belarus],” said migrant Liloz Dildar.
Iraq is repatriating its citizens from Belarus, organizing special flights to bring them home and Iraqi Airways suspended flights to Minsk to stop people making the journey.
Iraq's President Barham Salih and his Lithuanian counterpart spoke on Thursday. Salih said it is important to protect the rights of migrants, and the Iraqi government is investigating the trafficking networks, “to know who leads the Iraqi migrants to get them into trouble.”
Lithuania’s Deputy Interior Minister Arnoldas Abramavicius said he doubts any of the Iraqis who crossed the border will be granted refugee status in his country and offered to pay for their flights home.
