Фото: t.me/Koord_shtab
Political prisoners who were forcibly removed from Belarus are in an undefined legal status: formally, they have neither been pardoned nor released, the Dissdentby initiative writes.
“They have not been pardoned and have not been released in a legal sense, as they do not have any official documents in hand: neither a court decision, nor a release order, nor documents terminating criminal prosecution. In effect, people were taken out of the country without any legal formalization,” the rights defenders said.
In Belarus, police and KGB officers continue to search for many former political prisoners at their previous places of residence. This means that legally a person may still be considered a defendant in a criminal case.
Pensioners are in a particularly vulnerable position. They cannot obtain documents confirming their pension status, as officially some of the most recently released group are listed as being “under investigative actions” by the KGB. As a result, pension payments have been suspended. People are left without social benefits and without the ability to confirm their status in their country of residence.