Seimas expanded the legal basis for banning aliens from Lithuania

Press release, 16 November 2017

The Seimas approved the amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens, which expanded the basis for banning an alien from the Republic of Lithuania for a long-term. The new amendments provide for an entry ban on aliens related to large-scale corruption, money laundering, and violations of human rights. The amendments were adopted unanimously by 91 votes in favour.

The Law provides that an alien is banned from entering the Republic of Lithuania for a period exceeding five years, when there are serious grounds to believe that an alien has committed a serious or very serious crime against a person in a foreign state and has consequently violated universally recognised human rights and freedoms, or has committed a corruption-related offence or a criminal offence related to money laundering, or who has instigated or otherwise participated in the commission of such offences and/or for these reasons has been included in the national list of alerts for refusal of entry by an EU Member State, a member state of the European Free Trade Association, or a NATO member country.

A decision banning an alien from entering the Republic of Lithuania will be adopted by the Minister of the Interior on the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The draft Law was drawn up with a view to providing for, in the legal system of the Republic of Lithuania, political sanctions against people related to the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who disclosed the financial fraud resulting in fraudulent misappropriation of USD 230 million of taxpayers’ money by officials of the Russian Federation and was arrested by Russian authorities on false allegations and tortured in prison, where he eventually died. The Law also provides for sanctions against people related to cracking down, in violation of human rights and with impunity, on individuals, who disclose the cases of corruption and abuse of office, and on political prisoners or similar individuals. “Such people must not remain unpunished only because they are related to non-democratic authorities. These people must know in advance that a democratic state will enforce sanctions against them for the abuse of authority, when it violates international law and imposes liability in a democratic state,” the explanatory note to the amendments underlines.

The previous Law provided for only one reason when an alien could be banned from entering the Republic of Lithuania for a period exceeding five years, i.e. where he/she could pose a threat to national security or public order.

Rimas Rudaitis, Chief Specialist, Press Office, Information and Communication Department, tel. +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: [email protected]