December 7, Pozirk. Jaŭhien Muravicki, the Belarusian national arrested during protests in Tbilisi in late November, boarded a Vilnius-bound flight this morning, human rights defender Raman Kiślak has told Pozirk.
The Belarusian was among several foreigners arrested at protest rallies in Georgia sparked by the government’s decision to suspend negotiations on European Union membership.
After spending three days in custody Muravicki submitted an asylum request to Georgian migration authorities but later followed the advice of rights defenders and left the country.
Georgia is one of the counties where Belarusians flee fearing politically-motivated reprisals at home yet its Belarusian community is shrinking. In early 2024, 11,362 Belarusians resided in Georgia, 15 percent fewer than in 2023.
Earlier this year, Georgian authorities rejected political asylum applications by at least two Belarusians.
