The legalisation process in Poland has been completed for virtually all Belarusian political prisoners deported from Belarus in December 2025, according to Pavel Latushka, Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet, following a meeting with Tomasz Cytrynowicz, head of Poland’s Office for Foreigners.
The meeting was also attended by Mikhail Kirilyuk, a delegate of the Coordination Council, and Volha Dabravolskaya, head of the Legal Assistance Department at the Belarusian Solidarity Centre.
Latushka thanked the Polish side for promptly reviewing applications related to the legalisation of former political prisoners who, after being deported from Belarus to Ukraine, were subsequently transferred to Poland.
The meeting addressed two cases involving former political prisoners for whom no decisions have yet been made. In one case, an agreement was reached not to apply the Dublin Regulation, allowing the application for international protection to be examined in Poland. The second case is currently under appeal before the Refugee Board. Latushka said he intends to submit a request asking that the transfer procedure to another country also not be applied in that case.
In addition, a positive decision was made to resume consideration of the cases of two Belarusian citizens who had been waiting for more than a year for decisions on their applications for international protection.
Another topic discussed was extending the validity of Poland’s travel document for foreigners, which is currently issued to Belarusians for one year. The head of the Office for Foreigners said legislative amendments would be required. Latushka said he plans to discuss the issue with the leadership of Poland’s Ministry of Interior and Administration in an effort to amend the law on foreigners and extend the document’s validity to at least two years.
According to the Polish authorities, the number of decisions granting international protection to Belarusian citizens has recently begun to exceed the number of new applications. The situation is expected to continue improving by the end of the year.
Participants also drew attention to cases in which international protection had been denied on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired for criminal liability related to participation in the 2020 protests. They noted that such an approach fails to reflect the reality in Belarus, where law enforcement agencies can reclassify charges under more serious criminal provisions carrying longer prison terms.
The Office for Foreigners was provided with a report by the Viasna Human Rights Centre on repression in Belarus, as well as a study on the scale of political repression prepared by BELPOL, the United Transitional Cabinet’s Representative Office for Social Policy and the Volnyja initiative, with the participation of the human rights organisations Dissidentby and Viasna.
Latushka also urged the Polish authorities to take the ongoing repression in Belarus into account when reviewing applications for international protection. In addition, the Polish side received materials relating to applications submitted by former actors of the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre, who now perform with the Volnyja Kupalaŭcy troupe, asking that favourable decisions be made on their cases, the United Transitional Cabinet’s press service reported.
