Inadmissibility decision concerning Lithuania
The ECHR has declared inadmissible the application in the case of Kirkorov v. Lithuania.
The case concerned the ban on the applicant, a popular singer and music producer in Russia, from entering Lithuania because he was considered a threat to national security. The Lithuanian authorities found that he was a tool for Russia’s propaganda in States of the former USSR and that, by regularly giving concerts in Crimea, he supported the Russian State’s policy of aggression.
The Court found that the Lithuanian authorities’ assessment, which had been based on the applicant’s statements and behaviour, had not been arbitrary or without basis. In particular the applicant had openly stated that he supported Russia’s actions in the Crimean peninsula and referred to himself as Vladimir Putin’s “representative on stage”. The courts had moreover weighed up the interests of national security and public order against the applicant’s actions and the ban imposed on him and not found it to be disproportionate.