Belarusian Citizen Leu Mikheyeu Released from Police Custody in Armenia

Reform.news Editorial Team · 26 September 2026, 14:16

https://reform.news/en/belarusian-citizen-leu-mikheyeu-released-from-police-custody-in-armenia/

Belarusian citizen Leu Mikheyeu has been released from police custody in Armenia, human rights defender Raman Kisliak said.

“He said that he was ‘in good spirits, in a good mood and grateful to everyone for their support,’” he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Mikheyeu had been waiting for asylum in Georgia since 2021. According to Kisliak, he took part in events related to Belarus and received threats from officers of Belarus’s KGB. On September 25, he went to the Migration Department of Georgia’s Interior Ministry in Martkopi to replace his temporary identity document. Department staff told him he needed to travel to Tbilisi for an interview.

According to Mikheyeu, his phone was taken from him in Tbilisi, and he was kept in an office for about two hours while waiting for an interpreter. He was then told that he was in Georgia illegally, despite holding a valid temporary identity document. The Belarusian said he was offered either forced deportation or the option to choose a country to travel to voluntarily. He refused to return to Belarus and asked for permission to remain in Georgia until October 9, when his document was due to expire. His request was denied.

Mikheyeu ultimately chose Armenia. He said he was taken to the border and handed over to the Armenian side, where he was detained, as he is wanted in an international search at the request of the Belarusian authorities.

According to the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarusian human rights defenders in Georgia and Armenia, representatives of the Armenian and Georgian sides, and lawyers from the Office of the democratic forces’ leader had been involved in the situation since the previous evening. The team coordinated its efforts and contacted those who could help secure the Belarusian’s release as soon as possible.

“Many thanks to everyone who was involved in this process: Belarusian human rights defenders in Georgia and Armenia, the Armenian and Georgian sides, and the lawyers from Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Office. Special thanks to human rights defender and lawyer Raman Kisliak, our colleague from the Coordination Council. Since learning of Leu’s detention yesterday evening, the entire team has been working, coordinating its efforts and contacting everyone who could help secure his release as soon as possible,” said Yulia Mitskevich, acting representative of the United Transitional Cabinet.