Date: Thursday, 23 October 2025
The investigative agency's statement stated that a border patrol discovered three foreign citizens in the Braslav district of Belarus, one of whom was already dead. The other two were carrying his body.
"An investigative team and an ambulance were called to the scene," the Belarusian Investigative Committee reported.
It turned out the refugees were Eritrean nationals. A translator was called for them, and they used him to tell the border guards what had happened to them. According to the foreigners, they were seized in Latvia by uniformed men, who took and broke their smartphones, forced them into a minibus, and beaten them with tasers.
During the beating, one of the refugees, a 29-year-old man, lost consciousness, fell, and stopped moving. He and two companions were then driven to the Belarusian border, "thrown out of the car, and, after opening the animal gate in the enclosure, forced to walk," the SKB reports.
Border guards who encountered the foreigners called an investigator, who examined the deceased man's body and ordered a forensic examination. The Braslav District Department of the SKB opened an investigation into the refugee's death.
Commenting on the incident, the Belarusian Border Committee stated that after the onset of the "migration crisis," the bodies of 35 refugees were discovered on the republic's border with Latvia. In 2021, Latvian authorities declared a state of emergency due to the influx of illegal immigrants from Belarus, accusing Minsk of provocation, and appealing to NATO for support.
Unable to cross the border, the refugees set up tent camps in the nearby forests. International human rights organizations, having studied the situation, prepared a report on Latvian border guards abusing foreigners attempting to enter the country, but the country's authorities denied using violence against refugees.
The Investigative Committee of Belarus reported the discovery of illegal migrants from Africa on the border with Latvia. The agency stated that they entered Belarusian territory against their will and that one of them died from beatings.
According to a statement from the Belarusian Investigative Committee, on October 21, border guards in the Braslav district stopped two men carrying the body of a third. They were citizens of the Republic of Eritrea. They later told investigators summoned to the scene their story. The account states that in Latvia, the men were stopped by "uniformed men, who confiscated and smashed their mobile phones, then forced them into a minibus and began beating them."
"After the act of cruelty, the defenseless people were brought to the border... and, after opening the animal gate in the fence, were forced to enter Belarus," the Belarusian agency said in a statement.
The surviving foreigners were reportedly given medical assistance. Their possible fate has not been disclosed.
