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Activists demonstrating against Belarusian’s possible deportation from Georgia
November 10, Pozirk. Belarusian community activists in Georgia have picketed the Migration Department in Tbilisi daily since November 7 to protest the possible deportation of an exiled Belarusian man recently denied political asylum.
The organizer, human rights activist Raman Kiślak, told Pozirk that the Belarusian exile, whose name has not been disclosed for his safety, is facing politically motivated persecution in Belarus and may be subjected to degrading treatment and torture if he is sent back to his home country.
Participants on Sunday displayed Belarus’ historically national white-red-white flags as well as Georgian state flags. Police watched the protestors but did not intervene.
The Belarusian exile, whose passport and temporary identification document have expired, was arrested in Georgia on November 6 while police were checking the IDs of subway passengers.
On Monday, the Tbilisi City Court ruled that he should be placed in custody for three months pending a decision on his deportation.
According to Kiślak, Georgian authorities have rejected the individual’s application for political asylum, despite the fact that Belarus is persecuting him on political grounds.
Given that the Belarusian has no valid documents, he may only be deported to Belarus, and it is currently unknown whether a third country like Armenia will be able to receive him.
Kiślak, who was also facing deportation from Georgia earlier this year, managed to secure a reprieve after Georgia’s authorities targeting him as an “illegal migrant” had agreed to wait for the UN Human Rights Committee to make a decision on his appeal against their refusal to grant him political asylum.
Georgia, a visa-free country for Belarusians, is home to about 12,000 citizens of Belarus, many of whom fled their country for fear of politically motivated persecution after the 2020 presidential election, but their number keeps shrinking. Georgia has not granted asylum to a single Belarusian under the Georgian Dream government of pro-Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili in recent years.
The Georgian migration authorities have intensified their anti-immigration campaign and have been conducting raids to identify undocumented migrants, including door-to-door checks, with Belarusians among those targeted. Local media and diaspora activists have reported cases of foreigners being deported on what they describe as trumped-up grounds.
Georgian court orders three months’ custody for undocumented Belarusian facing deportation
November 9, Pozirk. An exiled citizen of Belarus whose passport and temporary identification document have expired has been placed in custody for three months pending a decision on his deportation, human rights activist Raman Kiślak told Pozirk on Monday, citing …
