Polish Court Rules Extradition of Former Editor of Mahiliouski Rehiyon Website to Belarus Legally Inadmissible

Reform.news Editorial Team · 22 October 2026, 17:33

https://reform.news/en/polish-court-rules-extradition-of-former-editor-of-mahiliouski-rehiyon-website-to-belarus-legally-inadmissible/

On October 22, the District Court in Białystok ruled that the extradition to Belarus of Dzmitry Salaujou, former editor-in-chief of the Mahiliouski Rehiyon news portal, was legally inadmissible. The Belarusian Association of Journalists reports.

In August, Belarus’ Prosecutor General’s Office asked Poland to extradite the journalist, who has been living in forced exile since 2021.

According to Salaujou, the Polish authorities had initially had no intention of sending him to Belarus. However, following the request from the Belarusian authorities, they were required to follow the procedure prescribed by law.

During the court proceedings, the journalist described the criminal cases brought against him in Belarus in connection with his professional activities. He is accused of creating an “extremist formation” and participating in it, as well as taking part in a “conspiracy” to seize state power by unconstitutional means.

The court ruled that extradition was inadmissible because the journalist’s rights and freedoms could be violated in Belarus.

“I was asked in detail about the circumstances that forced me to leave my homeland and what threats I face in Belarus,” Salaujou said after receiving the official court ruling.

The document will now be forwarded to Poland’s Minister of Justice, who will make the final decision.

Dzmitry Salaujou left Belarus in 2021 after learning that the first criminal case had been opened against him. He learned about a second case later, through the Prosecutor General’s Office request for his extradition. By that time, the journalist had already been on the wanted lists in Belarus and Russia for several years.

Salaujou was editor-in-chief of the Mahiliouski Rehiyon portal. In a decision dated November 29, 2023, Belarus’ State Security Committee (KGB) designated a group of citizens associated with the “6TV Bielarus” initiative, as well as its structural unit Mahiliou Media (“News of the Mahiliou Region”), as an “extremist formation.”

The journalist does not rule out that the extradition request may be a precursor to the launch of “special proceedings” against him in Belarus.