InfoMigrants recently visited Latvia and spoke to asylum seekers and experts about the situation at the country's border with Belarus.

One of the people we spoke to is Faisal Hajib, which is not his real name. He tried to enter the EU from Belarus three times before he was allowed to claim asylum. He's currently waiting for the outcome of his asylum application.

He told InfoMigrants that Latvian border guards ill-treated him when they caught him and a group of other migrants in July.

InfoMigrants asked Latvia's State Border Guard to respond to the allegations made in this video about violence at the border on November 5. By the time the video was published on November 13, they hadn't responded, but on November 14, they sent us the following reply:

"On Wednesday, November 13, State Border Guard officials prevented six individuals from attempting to illegally cross the Latvia–Belarus border. In total, 5,271 people have been deterred from illegally crossing the state border this year.

For humanitarian reasons, a total of 21 people have been admitted this year."

In answer to the allegations of violence made in the video, the State Border Guard wrote:

"The State Border Guard previously rejected the absurd allegations regarding the actions of the State Border Guard officials, performing their duties to prevent the illegal crossing of the Belarusian-Latvian state border under the conditions of a hybrid threat."

Since August 2022, the Latvian state border guard says they have detected: "only one case, [...] under circumstances of extreme necessity, the State Border Guard officials have used physical force and/or special means because a person did not comply with the legal demands of the border guards, behaved aggressively and disturbed their work.

Persons, while in Latvia, have not complained about the use of physical force or special means, in conditions where they have access to free legal and medical assistance. Moreover, the State Border Guard has encountered several cases where these third country nationals, who have illegally crossed the state border, deliberately lie and give false information and testimony in order to gain certain benefits for themselves.        

Emergency Medical Service teams are also called to the Latvian-Belarusian border to check the health condition of persons, if necessary, and so far there is no information that the EMS teams have detected any injuries to persons that could have been caused by the actions of officials of the State Border Guard, the National Armed Forces or the State Police.

The use of physical force and special means is a last resort, and the necessity and proportionality of the use of force or special means is specifically assessed in each case before they are used. 

In addition, it has already been reported that the State Border Guard acts in such a way that people's health and life are not endangered, people who are prevented from illegally crossing the state border are provided with humanitarian assistance, i.e. they are provided with basic necessities - food, water, hygiene products, climate clothes and shoes suitable for the conditions, as well as the necessary medical assistance."

On the subject of asylum and those who attempt to seek asylum after crossing the Latvian border, the state border guard had this to say:

"At the Latvian-Belarusian border, the State Border Guard is currently confronted not with a classical immigration crisis, but with a hybrid threat against Latvia by the Belarusian regime.

[...] no country is obliged to let in all foreigners who wish to enter its territory, even more so those who deliberately try to illegally cross the country's border.

The foreigners who have been admitted to Latvia (for humanitarian reasons) are basically those who, after being admitted to Latvia, have applied for asylum and have been placed in the Asylum Seekers Centre "Mucenieki" MLSP. Most of these foreigners abuse the asylum procedure and are considered to be economic benefit seekers. Their country of destination is not Latvia, but other more economically developed countries in the western part of the European Union, mainly Germany."