Mikhail Benyash* considered the court's position in the dispute with the Lithuanian authorities to be biased.

A Lithuanian administrative court openly sided with the Migration Department, which revoked Krasnodar lawyer Mikhail Benyash*'s residence permit due to his trips to Minsk. However, the court did not refute Benyash's arguments.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on January 8, it became known that a Lithuanian administrative court refused to uphold the appeal of Krasnodar lawyer Mikhail Benyash against the revocation of his residence permit. The court did not consider Benyash's arguments that he could not meet his son in a third country because the child's mother did not consent to this, and that he had no right not to return his son to his mother.

20:15 27.03.2023

ECHR communicated Benyash*'s complaints about beating by security forces and arrest

The European Court of Human Rights has demanded that the Russian authorities respond to questions regarding the complaints of Krasnodar lawyer Mikhail Benyash about beating by security forces after his arrest and about his administrative arrest.

Mikhail Benyash commented to a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on the ruling of the Regional Administrative Court, which refused to overturn the decision of the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Lithuania to revoke his temporary residence permit, valid until August 2027.

According to Benyash, the ruling did not fully reflect his position, and the court "openly sided with the department" "Migration."

Instead of a refutation, only the department's arguments were presented.

"The arguments in the complaint itself have not been refuted. Instead of a refutation, only the department's arguments were presented. The lawyer I hired says the court took a lazy approach to reviewing the dispute," said Mikhail Benyash.

He emphasized that he would appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania, and if he loses there, he would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Migration Department insisted in court on the legality of its decision.

The court ruling, which a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has seen, specifically cites Benyash's position. The point was that the Migration Department described the reasons he stated for the trip as objective, but did not provide any justification.

Benyasha's lawyer also emphasized that the Migration Department should have properly justified its decision, explaining why the applicant's stated reasons for the trip could not be considered objective and independent of his will.

He could have chosen to go or not to go to Belarus.

For its part, the Migration Department argued that no evidence was presented that its decision ignored the child's best interests or violated his right to privacy. The court found that Mikhail Benyash "could choose to travel to Belarus or not," and therefore was rightfully deprived of his residence permit for violating the law on restrictive measures, which prohibits Russian and Belarusian citizens residing in the country from visiting those countries more than once every three months.

At the same time, the court acknowledged that Lithuanian legislation does not provide a list of "objective reasons" for which exceptions to the law are permitted, and that the subjective opinions of Migration Department officials essentially determine the decision, the ruling states.

As a reminder, Mikhail Benyash is a Krasnodar lawyer known for his involvement in cases involving those detained at rallies, who was subjected to high-profile criminal prosecution for the use of violence against a government official, and was subsequently fined for discrediting the army. At the end of 2022, Benyash was added to the register of foreign agents and suspended from legal practice.

In 2022, the Ministry of Justice demanded that the Krasnodar Bar Association disbar Mikhail Benyash. The lawyers pointed out that disbarment is prescribed for serious violations, and the grounds cited by the Ministry of Justice do not apply to them. However, on February 17, 2023, the Bar Association deprived Benyash of his lawyer status for three years.

* is included in the register of foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.