Александр Бураков. Фото: БАЖ
Belarusian journalist and human rights activist Aliaksandr Burakou from Mahilyow was detained at Berlin Airport on June 4 after arriving from Chișinău. He told the team of Mayday.team that German border guards refused to allow him to enter Germany, citing a ban on his presence within the EU imposed by Poland in April 2026 and valid until 2031.
According to the authorities, Burakou’s documents were in order. No explanation for the ban was provided.
In 2021, Poland had already imposed a similar restriction on Burakou, preventing him from entering the European Union until 2026. The journalist was also forced to leave Belarus that year because of the threat of repression. He first moved to Georgia and later to Moldova, where he obtained refugee status.
For five years, Burakou, together with lawyers and the Belarusian Association of Journalists, sought an explanation from the Polish authorities but was ultimately unsuccessful. The first ban expired in March 2026, and in April he received confirmation that he was once again entitled to remain in the EU. However, officials at Berlin Airport told him that Poland had imposed a new ban that same month.
Burakou had previously suggested that the restriction might be linked to events that took place about 20 years ago.
“In the mid-2000s, during my journalistic work, there was a rather serious conflict related to the use of funds allocated for equipment. It happened in Poland, and I was the author of a letter that we sent to the Polish Foreign Ministry, which financed the project. As a result, the equipment was purchased urgently, but soon afterward I was stopped at the border and my visa was also cancelled,” he recalled.
At the time, he was banned from entering Poland for three years, but continued to receive Schengen visas from the Lithuanian embassy and was able to travel within the EU without difficulty.
Burakou worked as a freelance contributor for Belsat, Radio Racyja and Deutsche Welle. In 2020, he was detained twice in connection with his professional activities, and in 2021 his apartment was searched.