A Lithuanian court has rejected Mikhail Benyash's* challenge to the revocation of his residence permit.

A Lithuanian administrative court rejected the appeal of Mikhail Benyash*, a lawyer from Krasnodar who fled Russia, against the revocation of his residence permit. Benyash* intends to appeal the court's verdict.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," in late September 2025, the Lithuanian Migration Department revoked Mikhail Benyash*'s residence permit from Krasnodar. This decision was challenged in court. The reason for this was two two-day trips by Benyash* to Minsk: to bring his young son to Vilnius for the holidays and then send him back to his mother living in Russia.

The Lithuanian court barred the media from participating in the hearing. The court ignored the lawyer's arguments that he could not meet with his son in a third country because the child's mother did not consent to this. Benyash* also had no right to refuse to return his son, as he permanently resides with his mother in Russia, the human rights project "Slovo Zashchity" (Word in Defense) reported today.

Benyash*, who was declared a foreign agent in the Russian Federation and stripped of his right to practice law, will appeal the decision.

According to Benyash*, the court's decision doesn't reflect everything that happened and inaccurately reflects his words. "But that's not the point. Oddly enough, the lawyer who represented me still believes in justice, and you know, I was skeptical in Russia, and it hasn't gone away," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

"And lastly, I'm doing everything calmly, deliberately, and I don't regret anything. Because I'm right and I can prove it. It's not the first time. And those two and a half weeks I spent with my son were the best I've had in the last three years, and they were worth everything that happened after," the lawyer commented.

"If you want something done right, do it yourself," he added in his message.

As a reminder, at the previous hearing, Benyash* and his Lithuanian lawyer challenged Judge Sigita Fomicheva for obstructing the questioning of a representative of the Migration Department. The plaintiff's request to challenge the judge was denied without a specific explanation of the reasons for the decision. The lawyer's main argument in court was the objective necessity of the trip: he could not meet his son anywhere but Minsk, as the route to Lithuania was determined not by him, but by the child's mother, who was guided primarily by his interests.

Mikhail Benyash* is a Krasnodar lawyer known for his involvement in cases involving those detained at protests, who was subjected to high-profile criminal prosecution for the use of violence against a government official, and was subsequently fined for discrediting the army. At the end of 2022, Benyash* was added to the list of foreign agents, suspended from conducting business, and at the beginning of 2023, he was stripped of his lawyer status, according to a biographical note prepared by the "Caucasian Knot."

* is included in the register of foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.