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Georgia arrests Belarusian asylum seeker
Leŭ Michiejeŭ (left) and Raman Kiślak in Tbilisi
September 25, Pozirk. Georgian law enforcers have arrested Leŭ Michiejeŭ, a Belarusian man who has been awaiting political asylum in the country since 2021, rights activist Raman Kiślak, who faces similar problems in Georgia, told Pozirk.
Michiejeŭ has been waiting for asylum longer than almost any of his fellow countrymen. While in Georgia, he participated in protest rallies and received threats from the Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB). The man was detained when he submitted an application to renew his temporary identity card at the migration department in the village of Markopi. He was taken to Tbilisi for questioning.
“Leŭ’s case has been under review for about three years,” Kiślak said. “As of today, his presumed status is that of an asylum seeker, with the case pending before the Tbilisi Court of Appeals. But it’s possible that his case has already been decided and he hasn’t been informed. In that case, he could have been arrested for deportation.”
Many Belarusians moved to Georgia to escape politically-motivated persecution unleashed by the Alaksandar Łukašenka regime following the 2020 post-election protests. Georgia has not granted asylum to a single Belarusian under the Georgian Dream government of pro-Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili in recent years.
The Georgian migration authorities have intensified their anti-immigration campaign and have been conducting raids to identify undocumented migrants, including door-to-door checks, with Belarusians among those targeted. Local media and diaspora activists have reported cases of foreigners being deported on what they describe as trumped-up grounds.
Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja told Pozirk in May that it was impossible to negotiate with Georgian authorities on the recognition of expired Belarusian passports or issue temporary identification documents to foreigners.
Georgia says no deportation procedures under way against Belarusian activist Kiślak
September 14, Pozirk. Georgia’s migration authority has not launched deportation proceedures against rights activist Raman Kiślak, recognizing the temporary ban on his deportation by the UN Human Rights Committee, the activist has told Pozirk. Kiślak cited a response from the …
