Belarusian diaspora activist denied entry to Georgia

April 29, BPN. Georgian officials denied a Belarusian diaspora activist entry after he visited Turkey, a diaspora group co-leader, Raman Kiślak, told BPN.

Jaŭhien Hacak, a co-founder of the Belarusian Diaspora of Adjara, Georgia’s southwestern region, was not allowed into Georgia on April 25 and stayed in a sterile zone. The next day he made another unsuccessful attempt to enter the country. Border guards also rejected his request for political asylum.

Kiślak linked the entry ban to Hacak’s diaspora activism. “There are obvious violations on the part of the Georgian authorities,” he said. “Everyone has the right to apply for asylum. Hacak did, and it was the Georgian authorities’ duty to start the review process, but they ignored it.”

The Belarusian Diaspora of Adjara non-profit was registered in Batumi, Adjara’s capital, in 2021.

A total of 13,361 Belarusian nationals were living in Georgia on January 1, according to the statistics service in Tbilisi.