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A coalition of Belarusian human rights organizations has issued a statement regarding the cancellation of passports belonging to former political prisoners who were forcibly expelled from Belarus after their release in September and December 2025.
According to the human rights groups, passport cancellation is not simply the state refusing to protect its citizens, but a deliberate abuse of power. The organizations say that people who have already been subjected to criminal prosecution and forced expulsion are thereby facing additional repression. The lack of a valid passport effectively deprives a person of legal and social identity, restricting freedom of movement, the right to family life and property rights.
“Although the absence of a valid passport does not de jure entail the loss of citizenship, it creates a situation of de facto statelessness, affects human dignity and prevents the exercise of many basic rights”, the authors stressed.
The human rights groups called the situation a manifestation of the authorities’ particular cynicism, as they seek by any means to worsen the situation of politically persecuted citizens. The authors note that forced expulsion itself violates both Belarusian legislation and the country’s international obligations.
The human rights groups also recalled Decree No. 278 of 2023, which deprived Belarusian diplomatic missions abroad of the right to issue and renew passports. As a result, thousands of Belarusian citizens, including newborn children, remain without identity documents. The number of such people is constantly increasing.
The human rights groups also argue that passport cancellation can be regarded as part of a state policy which, in the context of the International Criminal Court’s Lithuania/Belarus investigation, qualifies as an element of crimes against humanity.
The coalition called on the Belarusian authorities to stop the practice of passport cancellations, restore their validity and repeal Decree No. 278. The human rights groups urged international organizations and foreign states, including those involved in negotiations on the release of political prisoners, to treat such actions as a form of transnational repression, apply diplomatic pressure and assist affected citizens in obtaining legal status abroad.
The statement was signed by the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Center Viasna, the Belarusian Association of Journalists, Lawtrend, Human Constanta, Belarusian PEN, Legal Initiative, the Belarusian Human Rights House named after Barys Zvozskau, the Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions.