EU condemns legislation allowing authorities to strip Belarusians of citizenship

December 23, BPN. The European Union has condemned the adoption of a bill by the Belarusian National Assembly allowing to deprive Belarusians of their citizenship acquired by birth, European External Action Service (EEAS) said in a statement.

It described the amendments to the law on citizenship as “another example of the increasing lawlessness in Belarus.”

Opposition politicians, journalists and civil society activists who fled the country in fear of persecution risk becoming stateless, it said.

The amendment will thus violate Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which protects everyone’s right to a nationality and prohibits its arbitrary deprivation, the EEAS added.

The statement noted over 1,440 political prisoners in Belarus held in inhumane conditions, trials in absentia, lack of transparency, and the recent expansion of the scope of the death penalty to include politically-motivated charges.

The Council of the Republic, the upper house of the National Assembly, approved the amendments on December 21. The bill has yet to be signed by Alaksandr Łukašenka into law. 

It introduces new grounds for annulling citizenship such as a court sentence confirming that a person participates in extremist activities or causes serious harm to Belarus’ interests while staying abroad. 

This way, democratic leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja, former cabinet minister Pavieł Łatuška and other prominent democratic figures, whom the authorities deem extremist and prosecute in absentia, may be left without passports.

Article 10 of the Constitution says that no one can be stripped of citizenship or of the right to change it, adding that termination of citizenship shall be carried out in line with the law.