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Lithuanian interior minister urges migration authorities to reconsider asylum denial for Belarusian army deserter

Lithuanian Interior Minister Arturas Melianas has urged the ministry`s Migration Department to reconsider its decision to deny asylum to an army deserter who is fighting extradition to Belarus.

"The court will make a decision in the case, but I have asked the Migration Department yet again to evaluate and weigh the entire circumstances in the aggregate," the ministry`s press office quoted him as saying.

Sergeant Stsyapan Zakharchanka deserted a military unit based near Minsk last July and managed to sneak across the Lithuanian border.

Earlier this year, the Migration Department rejected Mr. Zakharchanka`s asylum application and banned him from entering Lithuania for three years. A Vilnius court is now hearing his appeal against the decision.

Mr. Melianas warned that the Migration Department should have considered the consequences that Mr. Zakharchanka might face in Belarus after speaking out about abuse in the army and the Belarusian authorities` plans to use the army for cracking down on street protests.

He said that in such cases the migration authorities should confer with the foreign ministry before making any decision.

A representative of the Lithuanian Prosecutor General`s Office confirmed at the beginning of September that it had received a few requests for legal assistance from Belarus over the case of Mr. Zakharchanka, who left the military unit on July 27, 2011 and crossed the border into Lithuania shortly afterward.

In an interview published by belaruspartisan.org, a popular pro-opposition website, Mr. Zakharchanka said that he had deserted the unit to escape abuse by higher-ranking officers.

According to Mr. Zakharchanka, he decided to desert the unit shortly after he and the other sergeants were ordered to give a written pledge to execute "any order" by Alyaksandr Lukashenka in the event of anti-government street protests and open fire at people who "threaten Belarus` constitutional order."

The Belarusian defense ministry portrayed the man as a soldier with a very poor disciplinary record who was allegedly described by fellow soldiers as "lazy and cunning, prone to deception and breaches of discipline, constantly looking for personal gain and not getting along with the people around him." //BelaPAN