April 3, Pozirk. Belarusian authorities have annulled the passport of Nobel laureate and former designated political prisoner Aleś Bialiacki, the Viasna Human Rights Center reports.
The document was valid until 2028.
“This is another form of transnational reprisal, intended to make life harder for deported political prisoners abroad,” Bialacki said. “The authorities may try to cut our ties with Belarus, but it is a futile effort as Belarus will always remain in our actions and in our hearts.”
Rights defenders reported exiled dissidents’ passport annulments in late March. People affected by Minsk’s actions include former political prisoners who were expelled from Belarus on their early release, negotiated by Washington.
Authorities have already released about 500 prisoners as a result of negotiations with US diplomats. Many of them were forced to leave Belarus, some without any IDs.
Minsk’s decision to annul the passports of dissidents violates international law, said lawyers from the legal team of Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja.
Such actions do not strip individuals of their rights and should not be automatically recognized by other states, Cichanoŭskaja’s legal advisor Leanid Marozaŭ noted. He described Minsk’s move as a deliberate attempt to make Belarusians vulnerable abroad, stressing the need for a consolidated international reaction.
Bialacki was among 123 prisoners exchanged by Alaksandar Łukašenka in mid-December 2025 for United States sanctions relief on Belarusian potash fertilizers. He was forced to leave the country and taken to Lithuania.
Bialacki was arrested along with his associates in July 2021 and sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of smuggling cash and financing mass disorder, charges widely believed to be politically motivated.
The rights defender was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, while he was still in prison.
