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Belarusians need alternative passports. Will the EU issue them? [1]

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Date: 2023-10

Imagine you live in a foreign country and your passport expires. You have only two choices: either returning home to get a new one and risk being arrested on arrival, or staying where you are without proper documents.

What do you do?

That’s the situation facing Belarusians who live abroad, including many dissidents who self-exiled to avoid lengthy prison sentences. Last month president Alexander Lukashenka banned diplomatic missions overseas from exchanging, renewing or issuing new Belarusian passports.

The new decree also rules that Belarusians seeking to sell a property or a car, or obtain a copy of their university degree, can only do so in person in Belarus. A power of attorney issued abroad will no longer work.

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This dilemma isn’t equally stark for everyone, not all who have left the country did so because they were certain prison awaited them. But the peculiarity of Belarus’s mass repression lies in the fact people often have no idea that they have come to the attention of the security services. One doesn’t have to be a journalist, or have taken part in protests or engaged in political activities to do so; people have ended up in prison for something they liked on social media years ago. This means no one returning to Belarus can feel completely safe.

The Security Council of Belarus tactfully claimed the new decree was needed to “lighten the workload of diplomatic missions”. But some lower-ranking officials were more up front. Deputy Oleg Gaidukevich, the chairman of the pro-government Liberal Democratic party, said the measure represents a “final blow to the fifth column”.

“A normal citizen has no problem changing his passport,” claimed Gaidukevich, but “an extremist is afraid to come [to Belarus and face] a criminal case”.

Addressing the Belarusians who have left for political reasons, the deputy said: “Actually, you have not been citizens of Belarus for a long time. You do everything against Belarus, you work against your country... Those who betrayed the country and don’t want to return [should] stay [where they are] to live.”

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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/belarusian-migrants-alternative-passport-issue-lukashenka/

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