Latvian Activist Who Helped Asylum Seekers Awaits Verdict After Multiple Delays

On August 19, Latvian Human Rights Defender Ieva Raubiško will once again appear in court to learn whether she will be sent to prison for helping a group of asylum seekers at Latvia’s border with Belarus.

Human Rights First reported on her case for the first time in October 2024, when a verdict seemed only days away. Instead, repeated delays —  with the final hearing adjourned at least three times — have turned into a drawn-out test of whether Latvia will punish acts of basic solidarity with people seeking safety.

Ieva, a social anthropologist and volunteer with the NGO Gribu palīdzēt bēgļiem (“I Want to Help Refugees”), is charged with “organizing intentional illegal crossing of the state border for a group of people.” The charges stem from January 2023, when she helped five Syrian asylum seekers for whom she had secured an interim measure from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). That order required Latvia not to deport them and to provide basic humanitarian aid — food, water, shelter, and medical care.

When Ieva and fellow activist Egils Grasmanis visited the border zone to check whether authorities were complying, both were detained and interrogated. Charges against Grasmanis were dropped; Ieva still faces up to two years in prison.

Her trial is playing out against the backdrop of the Belarus–EU border crisis that began in 2021, when Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was accused of luring migrants from conflict-stricken countries with promises of EU entry, then pushing them toward Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. In response, these countries declared emergencies, sealed their frontiers, and adopted pushback tactics. Thousands attempting to cross from Belarus were forced back without a chance to claim asylum. Many have been stranded in freezing forests, trapped between armed patrols.

Human Rights First has been documenting the targeting of HRDs helping migrants who have crossed the Belarusian border.

Across the region, authorities have increasingly criminalized humanitarian aid. In Poland, for example, the “Hajnówka Five” are on trial for giving food, clothing, and a ride to refugees — charges observers say are meant to intimidate those who might help. Ieva has pointed out that her case — and charges against two Dutch volunteers who rescued stranded migrants in Latvia — serve the same purpose.

International condemnation of Ieva’s case has been strong. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Special Rapporteurs have warned that the prosecution targets “legitimate acts of solidarity.”

After nearly a year of delays, the August 19 hearing should not be pushed again. This trial has already dragged on too long, and the court should bring it to an end by acquitting Ieva Raubiško and declaring that kindness is not a crime. Anything less would send the dangerous message that helping people at risk will cost you your freedom.