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Tuesday, 23.04.2024, 08:54
Russian journalist Titov asks Lithuania to review asylum finding, Migration Dept agrees
Titov offered a settlement to the department, pledging to withdraw his plea
from the Lithuanian Supreme Administrative Court, if the institution agreed to
reconsider his application for political asylum in Lithuania.
"I submitted the plea to the Lithuanian minister of interior affairs
and the Migration Department. My solution I proposed is: I withdraw my appeal
and they review my asylum application amid new circumstances," the
journalist told BNS.
In Titov's words, the new circumstances include the two broadcasts aired on
Russia's state television Rossiya 24 in
early July.
The broadcasts tell about an earlier decision of Lithuanian authorities to
deny the journalist a residence permit. The immigrant said that the interest of
the state-run channel in his status demonstrated the threats he was still
facing in Russia.
"After the broadcasts on the state television, all of Russia learned
about he, therefore, my life, safety and freedom would be in clear danger, if I
returned to Russia," Titov said in his plea.
Evelina Gudzinskaite, the head of the Migration Department, said last week that the negative
decision in connection to his asylum application did not prevent the journalist
from repeated applications for residence in Lithuania, should new circumstances
emerge.
Titov, who came to Lithuania from Krasnodar in late 2016, has told BNS that
he was afraid to stay in Russia after facing pressure from the authorities over
his activities.
The Migration Department on Feb. 21, 2017 refused to grant asylum to the
Russian journalist, saying that his fears were objectively unsubstantiated. The
Vilnius Regional Administrative Court on Jun. 14 rejected his appeal against
the department's decision on the same grounds.
The journalist turned to the Lithuanian Supreme Administrative Court over
the decision.
Titov fears criminal charges in Russia on the suspicion of spying, as he
had traveled to Eastern Ukraine in cooperation with the Lithuanian national
broadcaster LRT in Lithuania to cover the war between the government's forces
and Russian-supported separatists.
He said he had been followed in Russia and faced indirect threats.
Lithuania's Foreign Ministry said it had submitted a conclusion to the
migration authorities, saying Titov would be in danger upon return to Russia.
Lithuania's Migration Department said on Wednesday it agreed with the
proposal from Russian journalist Yevgeni Titov to reconsider his asylum
application, if he withdraws his plea to court.
"We are glad to see he agrees to withdraw the plea. As soon as he
withdraws the pleas and finishes the first procedure, files a new asylum
application, we will start the second procedure," Evelina Gudzinskaite,
director of the Migration Department, told BNS on Wednesday.
Titov offered a settlement to the department, pledging to withdraw his plea
from the Lithuanian Supreme Administrative Court, if the institution agreed to
reconsider his application for political asylum in Lithuania.