Lithuania: Asylum seekers seek compensation for illegal detention

A group of 24 migrants have filed a class action lawsuit against Lithuania, seeking compensation of EUR 5,000 each for their arbitrary detention in 2021-2022, BNS reports. The claimants allege that the Lithuanian government unlawfully detained at least 4,000 migrants for months without judicial review during an emergency declared due to irregular border crossings from Belarus. The government argued that the detentions were a warranted response to a “hybrid attack” by Belarus. Lithuania’s Constitutional Court later ruled that the detentions were unconstitutional, however.