Human Rights Watch reported today that the Belarusian parliament approved legislative changes to a citizenship statute from 2002 that might be used to persecute activists, members of the political opposition, and other dissenters living in exile, HRW states in a press release.
If the president approves the draft law, he or she would be able to revoke the citizenship of Belarusians living abroad, even if they own no other citizenship.
Numerous people left Belarus out of fear of persecution following the massive protests in August 2020 and the repressions that followed. The precise number of emigrants is unknown, however during 2020 and 2021, the number of Belarusian refugees and asylum seekers registered globally with the UNHCR increased by more than 3,500, from 7,837 to 11,431.
Thousands more have acquired visas for humanitarian or other reasons. According to the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Belarus, the majority of Belarusians have fled to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Estonia, or other members of the European Union, as well as to Georgia and Ukraine. Many will also be displaced from Ukraine during 2022.
According to Anastasiia Kruope, assistant researcher for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch, widespread, systematic crackdowns on dissent in Belarus and numerous politically motivated indictments have already compelled many Belarusians to flee their country.
According to her, the attempts to bring Belarusians to justice abroad and to facilitate the removal of their citizenship are unprecedented acts of repression against Belarusians living in exile.
In August 2021, legislation allowing naturalized Belarusian people convicted of specific offenses to lose their citizenship was adopted. These provisions would be made applicable to natural-born citizens of Belarus under the proposed revisions.
The Law on Citizenship Amendments were approved by the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament on December 21, 2022. The bill allows stripping the citizenship of Belarusians abroad who are found guilty by Belarusian courts of the crimes of “participation in an extremist organization” or “grave harm to the interests of Belarus.”
The bill outlines 55 sections of the criminal code of Belarus that would constitute “membership in an extremist organization” or “cause grave harm to the interests of Belarus,” respectively. Many of the articles are already widely utilized in trials with political motivations.
