Tbilisi court upholds Belarusian journalist’s appeal against asylum denial

December 12, Pozirk. The Tbilisi City Court has ruled today that Georgia’s Migration Department had no sufficient grounds to deny asylum to a Belarusian journalist and ordered a review of her request, according to Raman Kislak, a Tbilisi-based human rights defender.

Kislak did not name the journalist for her safety, but noted that she is a member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists.

The judge rejected the argument by a migration official that he could not access the websites of the Belarusian interior and information ministries to verify information that Belarus had designated some media organizations “extremist groups.”

“I agree with the judge that the Migration Department has not done what is necessary,” Kislak told Pozirk.

The department can appeal the ruling, he added. “I hope that Georgia still has an independent judiciary, which can examine cases objectively. I am waiting for positive decisions on asylum applications from Belarusians.”

Fewer Belarusians have been applying for asylum in Georgia as of late, he said. “Only those who have no other way out. . . whose passports were lost, stolen or expired… The department has considerably limited the acceptance of applications.”

Dozens of appeals are waiting for consideration by courts, he said.

Georgia has adopted a new procedure whereby those who have been denied asylum are no longer treated as asylum seekers while their appeals are pending consideration. They are not provided with free legal assistance and are no longer exempted from fees. Those who have no passports are not given temporary IDs.