Exiled “extremists” to be stripped of passports – police

July 10, BPN. A police official has told reporters in Minsk that the exiles convicted of “extremism” must return to the country and serve their sentences in order to retain their Belarusian passports.

In December, lawmakers passed a bill “On Citizenship of the Republic of Belarus.” It introduced new grounds for annulling citizenship such as “a court sentence that has come into legal force, confirming that a person participates in extremist activities or causes serious harm to Belarus’ interests, when that person is outside Belarus,” according to the parliament’s press office.

This way, opposition 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 law.

“If someone actually evades the execution of a lawful court decision, is he really a Belarusian citizen?” said Alaksiej Biahun, who heads the interior ministry’s citizenship department. “He has a choice: to return to Belarus and serve a sentence or to stay abroad.”