Latvia denies asylum to Russian man who appears to have dodged military service

The Latvian Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs and a Latvian court have refused to grant asylum to a Russian citizen who claimed that the Russian authorities wanted to forcibly send him to fight in Ukraine.

Source: Delfi, a Latvian news website

Details: In July last year, a Russian citizen arrived in Latvia by plane from Georgia and applied for asylum. The man claimed that the Russian authorities wanted to forcibly send him to fight in Ukraine.

According to the Russian, a contract was retroactively drawn up on his behalf, and he was allegedly summoned to a military enlistment office, where he was threatened with torture if he refused to go to war.

The case file states that back in 2012, the same man applied for asylum in Poland in connection with the threat of criminal proceedings and imprisonment. Without waiting for a decision, he went to France, where he also applied for asylum, but was denied it.

From 2017 to 2021, the man served a prison sentence in France for domestic violence and later for theft, although he pleaded not guilty.

After his release in spring 2021, the man was deported to Russia, where he claims he was interrogated, tortured, extorted, and suffered sexual violence, by representatives of the Russian and Chechen authorities.

In December 2021, the man travelled to Türkiye, where he worked until he was detained for violating immigration rules. In the summer of 2022, the man travelled to Georgia, hoping to then travel to visit his wife in Latvia. He was then going to apply for asylum in Latvia.

In Latvia, the man was denied refugee status.

According to the Citizenship Office, he failed to provide evidence that he suffered sexual violence in Chechnya. His testimony appeared overall contradictory.

"The explanations that the Russian citizen provided contradict the evidence he presented. In view of the above, there are grounds to doubt the reliability of the information provided by the applicant, and there are no grounds to trust the man at all," the decision reads.

Disagreeing with the decision, the man appealed to the District Administrative Court, which dismissed his application.

In its decision, the court referred to the conclusion of the State Security Service of Latvia, which stated that the man could have deliberately distorted information and facts in order to create a more favourable impression with his asylum application.

The State Security Service concluded that granting the applicant refugee status or an alternative status could threaten the security of the Latvian state and society.

Previously: A Latvian court granted the right to political asylum to a Russian citizen who had moved to Latvia, fearing possible mobilisation and being forced to take part in the war against Ukraine.

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