DISINFO: Lithuanian Border Guard Service officers beat migrants and forced them to return to Belarus
SUMMARY
Belarusian border guards detained three groups of illegal migrants, citizens of Iraq, and sent them back from Lithuania to Belarus. Migrants told that in Lithuania the officers of Lithuanian State Border Guard Service pressured them to lie about bribing Belarusian border guards for assistance to cross the border illegally. Lithuanian officers have beaten migrants. After the inquest, they brought migrants to the border with Belarus and forced them to cross it at gunpoint.
RESPONSE
Disinformation about Lithuania in the context of the migrant crisis on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border.
Lithuanian State Border Guard Service denied all accusations presented in the narrative. The experts in Lithuania evaluated this narrative as propaganda and part of information warfare against Lithuania.
In recent months Lithuania faced a sharp rise of illegal migrants entering its territory from Belarus (see statistic here). In July, the number of migrants who illegally crossed the border of Lithuania was 20 times bigger than in 2019 and 2020. Lithuania also declared a state of emergency over increased migrant arrivals.
Lithuanian foreign affairs minister Gabrielius Landsbergis accused Alyaksandr Lukashenka of the weaponisation of migration. Belarusian authorities are trying to revenge Lithuania for support of Belarusian opposition and civil society in the context of protests after the Belarusian presidential elections in August 2020.
EU border agency Frontex helps Lithuania to manage the migrant crisis.
See also the investigation of Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT about the migrant smuggling scheme enabled by the Minsk regime.