Vilnius court gears up for influx of asylum cases

Hearing such cases, the court received 105 appeals against the Migration Department's decisions not to grant political asylum last year, and 82 appeals already have been received so far this year.

"Their number, however, is expected to grow further in a couple of months after persons now crossing the border illegally will lodge their appeals against unfavorable decisions by the Migration Department," the court said.

Jolanta Malijauskiene, the chairperson of Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, notes that, under the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens, applicants have to be provided with free legal assistance and translation/interpretation into their native language through the whole asylum request process.

The majority of people appealing against the Migration Department's decision against granting political asylum claim they cannot speak English, German, French or Russia, making the court use the services of translators/interpreters of rare languages.