Group who crossed from Belarus included sister of one of the accused in case highlighting Latvia’s harsh migration laws
over what they say was an act of compassion to help a group of refugees reach safety, including the sister of one of the pair.
Hussein, a Dutch citizen of Sudanese origin, said his younger sister Mabroka left Sudan last spring after taking part in a documentary that highlighted her activism against the regime there and receiving threats., she paid intermediaries to help her with a journey via Russia and Belarus.
She said she and Hussein were driven by the human instinct to help people in need and knew that if caught by Latvian authorities the refugees would probably be pushed back to Belarus. “I explained to the police that these people are in danger, they have been without food for five days, and they didn’t care at all, they left them on the ground in the police station for the entire night,” said Doppen.
Doppen and Hussein plan to accept their “guilt” but make the case that they acted out of compassion and human instinct, and hope for a suspended sentence. Both are now in thebut will be obliged to return to Latvia for the trial. Mabroka is in the Netherlands awaiting the outcome of her asylum claim. She was arrested for giving assistance to a group of Syrian refugees, inside a closed zone near the border early in 2023.
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