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The extended panel of judges of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania examined an administrative case in which the applicant challenged the decision of the Migration Department not to grant him refugee status. Such a decision was taken pursuant to the provision of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Legal Status of Aliens (transposing Article 12(2)(b) of Directive 2011/95/EU), according to which refugee status is not granted if there are serious grounds for believing that the person concerned has committed a serious, non-political crime in a non-refugee country prior to being recognised a refugee. On the other hand, the applicant has already served a sentence for the crime for which asylum was refused and, in the applicant's view, the exclusion clause should therefore no longer apply.

Having assessed the legal regulation relevant to the issue at hand, as well as the interpretations published by the European Union Asylum Agency and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the extended panel of judges of the Supreme Administrative Court had doubts as to the interpretation of Article 12(2)(b) of Directive 2011/95/EU, which establishes one of the grounds for refusal of refugee status. Accordingly, it was decided to refer to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling as to whether Article 12(2)(b) of Directive 2011/95/EU, read in conjunction with Article 18 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, requires, when assessing the compliance of the actions of a person who satisfies the other criteria for refugee status with the ground for non-refugee status laid down in Article 12(2)(b) of Directive 2011/95/EU, that the Court of Justice be required to take into consideration the fact of the fact that that person has served his or her sentence or has been granted pardon, amnesty or any other similar circumstance.

Administrative case No. eA-429-556/2024.