On 19 August, the Court heard the human rights defender’s final statement. Pleading innocent, Ieva Raubiško noted the lack of distinction in Latvian legislation between the provision of humanitarian aid and other emergency assistance to people on the move, and the transferring of people across the border for a fee. She said, “Humanitarian aid and human smuggling are not and cannot be the same thing, and this distinction should also be introduced into Latvian legislation. Otherwise, the provision of humanitarian aid is criminalised, as clearly demonstrated by this court case and the position of the prosecution in maintaining the charges against me.”
The human rights defender explained to the Court that the five Syrian asylum seekers were in Latvian soil several times between December 2022 and January 2023, and they were pushed back to Belarus, in one instance after being kept in a tent for two days, while their requests for asylum were disregarded. She noted that during these previous encounters with the Latvian border police, no criminal proceedings were initiated against them.
In her statement, Ieva Raubiško also gave a detailed account of the plight of the people on the move at the Belarus-Latvia border, where they risk death, loss of limbs and other life changing health problems due to exposure to unfavourable weather conditions without any possibility of finding refuge in either country. “We are faced with a grim arithmetic of death and life at the borders”, she said pointing out that these people were seen as “disposable elements” without any rights, and told the Court that she supported the asylum seekers with the aim of preventing further deaths, because she was convinced that their lives were at risk.
Front Line Defenders condemns the guilty verdict and hopes that it will be overturned on higher instance. The organisation remains concerned that the Prosecutor had originally requested a one year and six months prison sentence for the human rights defender to make an example of her and deter others. The organisation fears that the guilty verdict will have a chilling effect and impact the work of all human rights defenders and border solidarity groups who try to provide support to people on the move, and reiterates its call to the Latvian authorities to ensure that all human rights defenders in Latvia, are able to carry out their human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of restrictions.
