February 18, Pozirk. Authorities in the northeastern Polish city of Białystok have provided two apartments for former Belarusian political prisoners, according to the Telegram channel of the opposition United Transition Cabinet.
While meeting with Białystok’s Vice President Marek Masalski, the cabinet’s Deputy Chairperson Pavieł Łatuška expressed his gratitude to the city’s government for providing the apartments out of the social housing fund.
Under discussion at the meeting were issues relating to the issuance of temporary residence permits should new groups of political prisoners be released soon and “should Łukašenka resort to the extreme measure of deporting the Belarusians to the territory of Poland.”
Łatuška pointed out that former political prisoners are not eligible to work in Poland as they wait for their asylum requests to be considered, which results in considerable costs for sponsors providing them with accommodation and other assistance.
Naša Niva earlier reported that 64-year-old Halina Dzierbyš would reside in one of the apartments. In October 2022, Dzierbyš was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the high-profile Mikałaj Aŭtuchovič case for “an act of terrorism” and other alleged offences. On September 11, she was released and taken to Lithuania along with 50 other Belarusian political prisoners. The disabled woman had the longest prison term among them. She is a citizen of Belarus and Poland. She will be able to live in her two-bedroom apartment for the rest of her life, paying only for utility services.
