December 23, Pozirk. A coalition of human rights organizations has urged the Belarusian authorities to stop forcibly deporting pardoned dissidents, says a statement posted by the Viasna Human Rights Center.
The activists welcomed the release of 52 designated political prisoners on September 11 and the group of 123 on December 13, expressing hope that such releases will continue. However, they called on Minsk to “demonstrate foresight in overcoming the humanitarian crisis that has developed in the country.”
Rights defenders described the practice of forced expulsions as mass and systematic, depriving people of their fundamental rights and violating basic procedural guarantees of liberty. “Released individuals who have been forcibly taken outside the territory of the Republic of Belarus effectively find themselves in a situation of forced exile and are deprived of the possibility of returning to their homeland,” the statement reads.
Rights groups urged Minsk to respect and unconditionally comply with the right of Belarusians to liberty and the freedom of movement, including the right to freely return to Belarus. Authorities should refrain from creating situations of additional danger and threat and respect the right of citizens to life, ceasing the practice of forced expulsions, it noted.
Viasna, Human Constanta, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Lawtrend, Belarusian PEN, Respect-Protect-Fulfill, Pravavaja Inicyjatyva, the Belarusian Association of Journalists, Barys Zvozskaŭ Human Rights House, the Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Pravo na Zashchitu (Right to Defense) signed the statement.
