(AP) Latvia on Thursday rejected as “absurd” claims by Amnesty International that it is violently mistreating migrants attempting to enter the European Union member country through Belarus.
The human rights watchdog said in a report released Thursday that Latvian authorities have violently pushed back refugees and migrants — mostly from Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East — from the country’s borders with Belarus and of “subjecting many to grave human rights violations, including secret detention and even torture.”
In emailed comments to the Associated Press, Latvia’s Ministry of Interior said that “not a single case has been identified” of Latvian authorities “having used physical force or applied special means” and that no complaints of such behavior have been recorded.
