The applicant is a national of Afghanistan who entered Latvia from Belarus in August 2021. He applied for international protection, claiming to be at risk of persecution and death by the Taliban. He claimed to be from the Nangarhar Province, Surkhrod District, which is controlled by the Taliban, and to have escaped following the kidnapping of his brother, for fear that the same would happen to him. The Office for Citizenship and Migration Affairs refused refugee status but granted subsidiary protection, on grounds that the applicant escaped following the deterioration of the overall security situation.

On appeal, the court analysed the country of origin information related to Afghanistan to assess whether the applicant was a member of a particular social group, namely of persons whose family members have been abducted by the Taliban. The court found that there were no grounds for establishing such social group, and that it has to be defined more broadly as persons with links with the former Afghan Government and, in some cases, their family members. Considering the circumstances of the case, the court ruled that the applicant did not prove links to the former Afghan government and therefore is not part of a particular social group. The court upheld the decision of the Office for Citizenship and Migration Affairs and granted subsidiary protection.