Legalization in Poland of practically all Belarusian political prisoners deported in December 2025 has been essentially completed

Photo: NAM media

During a meeting, the Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet, delegate of the Coordination Council, Pavel Latushka, thanked the head of Poland's Office for Foreigners, Tomasz Cytrynowicz, for the prompt handling of appeals on legalization issues for practically all former political prisoners deported in December 2025 from the territory of Belarus to Ukraine and later moved to the territory of Poland.

The meeting was also attended by Coordination Council delegate Mikhail Kiryliuк and the head of the legal aid department of the Belarusian Solidarity Center, Volha Dabravolskaya.

During the meeting, two cases of former political prisoners who have not yet received a legal decision were discussed. For one of them, an agreement was reached that the Dublin procedure will not be applied, and the review of the application for international protection will take place on the territory of Poland. The second case, in turn, is under appeal at the Refugee Board. Regarding this situation, Pavel Latushka will send a petition to the Board requesting that the Dublin procedure not be applied.

Also, the cases of two Belarusian citizens regarding the resumption of review of their applications for international protection, which had been pending for more than a year, were resolved positively, for which Pavel Latushka expressed his gratitude to Tomasz Cytrynowicz.

During the meeting, the issue of extending the validity period of the travel document issued to Belarusian citizens for one year was again discussed. The head of Poland's Office for Foreigners noted that the relevant legislative changes are needed for the practical implementation of this. Pavel Latushka noted that he will initiate a separate meeting with the leadership of Poland's Ministry of Internal Affairs in order to again discuss the possibility of amending the law on foreigners, which would allow the travel document to be issued for no less than two years.

The head of the Office also drew attention to the fact that the number of decisions granting international protection has recently begun to exceed the number of applications from Belarusian citizens for this status, and that by the end of the year the situation will improve even further.

Participants of the meeting drew attention to cases of denial of international protection with reference to the alleged expiration of the statute of limitations for criminal liability for participation in the 2020 protests. It was noted that this does not improve the legal situation of Belarusians, but on the contrary — worsens it. In the Belarusian situation, the expiration of the statute of limitations does not mean an abandonment of criminal prosecution, since the so-called law-enforcement bodies reclassify criminal cases under more serious articles, which provide for longer terms of imprisonment.

Poland's Office for Foreigners was given the report of the human rights center "Viasna" on repression in Belarus, as well as the report "On the Real Scale of Political Repression in Belarus," prepared by BELPOL, the Cabinet's Representation for Social Policy, and the "Volnyja" initiative, using materials from the human rights organizations "Dissidentby" and "Viasna."

As Pavel Latushka emphasized, the report of the UN Special Rapporteur notes that "Belarus continues to systematically and grossly violate its international human rights obligations, continuing politically motivated repression and completely suppressing freedom of expression, assembly, and association."

Pavel Latushka requested that the leadership of the Office for Foreigners take into account the ongoing repression in Belarus when considering decisions on granting international protection to Belarusian citizens.

Also during the meeting, materials were submitted regarding the granting of international protection to a number of former actors of the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre, who today work in the troupe "Free Kupalaǔцы" ("Free Kupala Theatre Actors"), with a request for a positive decision on these appeals.

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