Dagestani native accuses Consular Section of Embassy of Latvia of discrimination on national origin

A Dagestani native, who lives and works in Moscow, claimed that the Consular Section of the Embassy of Latvia in Russia refused to issue a visa for him because of his nationality. The Embassy of Latvia denies accusations of prejudice against natives of the Caucasus. Meanwhile, tourism companies confirm that the Schengen countries include the regions of the Caucasus in the list of unreliable areas.

Akhmedov, a Dagestani native, who had been living and working in Moscow for several years already, was going to go relaxing in Latvia; however, he was denied an entry visa to the country on "very vague reasons". This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Akhmedov himself.

According to him, a staff member of the Consular Section asked him, who of his relatives live in Dagestan, for who long he had been working in Moscow, and why he was going to visit Latvia.

"I did not like that at once; however, I answered the questions. Neither I nor anyone of my family members did ever violate the law, and we were not involved in any criminal or administrative proceedings, we work in different spheres," the man said.

According to Akhmedov, the visit to the Consular Section to get the documents was scheduled for September 7. "I went to get the documents and found out that I was denied entry to the country," Akhmedov said.

"You did not provide justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay. The provided information, confirming the purpose and conditions of the intended stay, was not reliable. It was not possible to find out your intention to leave the territory of the Member States prior to the expiry of the visa," states the letter of the Consular Section in response to the Akhmedov's complaint.

"If a person misses any documents there are no booking for airline ticket or hotel, no certificate from the job, no certificate with account balance they will just not accept the documents. All the documents, submitted by me, are in order. And the reason for refusal is that I am a native of Dagestan," Akhmedov states.

"On September 10, I intend to appeal against the decision of the Consular Section. Moreover, now I have a bad visa story that will clearly affect further decisions of the countries when I apply for an entry visa," Akhmedov has emphasized.

He has also said that he was denied access to the Consul at the Consular Section, since, according to diplomatic personnel, "the Consul did not meet persons on personal matters."

"Latvia is a democratic state, and we have no discriminative attitude towards persons of any country," stated a staff member of the Consular Section of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), who introduced himself as the Vice Consul in a telephone conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. According to him, the reasons for the refusal of a visa are contained in the document, issued by the Consular Section.

Meanwhile, the website of the Latvian MFA contains information that, in accordance with the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers of the country, citizens of a number of states "should be subjected to additional examinations in case of issuance of visas or residence permits." The published list of states, along with Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Somalia, also contains Russia. A footnote states that the above rules "refer to a person if there is information that the address of his or her place of residence or place of birth is the Republic of Chechnya, the Republic of Dagestan, and the Republic of Ingushetia."