Law restricting freedom of movement of irregular migrants will be amended after Constitutional Court’s ruling

Lithuania’s Constitutional Court (KT) has judged that forcible accommodation of migrants in foreigners’ registration centres after they had illegally crossed the state border was unconstitutional. Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė says authorities started lifting restrictions on the movement of migrants on Wednesday.

According to the minister, the movement is restricted for just 17 of 153 irregular migrants who are currently in Lithuania. She said a working group would be established to draft amendments to provisions of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens that contradicted the Constitution.

“Yesterday, our institutions, namely the State Border Guard Service and the Migration Department, started processes to suspend restrictions on movement,” the interior minister told reporters Thursday.