Pavel Latushka: The Scale of Transnational Repression is Intensifying Every Year and Today Affects Almost Everyone Who Has Been Expelled from the Country
- Pavel Latushka
- Jan 30
- 3 min read
"Transnational repression has become a systemic tool used by authoritarian regimes to persecute their opponents beyond the country's borders. However, Lukashenka's regime has brought these practices to a scale that meets the definition of persecution as a crime against humanity, which falls under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court," noted Coordination Council delegate and member of the Belarusian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Pavel Latushka during a special event "Understanding Transnational Repression: Risks, Patterns and Consequences for Europe's Democratic Space and Its Most Vulnerable Democracies" within the PACE session.
"In 2020, after the falsified presidential elections, Lukashenka's regime launched a large-scale campaign of internal repression. Its goal, formulated by the dictator himself, was to 'cleanse' Belarusian society of everyone deemed disloyal. For many years, these actions remained unpunished, leading to tens of thousands of arrests and imprisonments, and ultimately to mass expulsions and further extraterritorial persecution of those Belarusians the regime considers 'disloyal'.
According to the 2025 report of the UN Group of Independent Experts on the human rights situation in Belarus, since 2020, up to 600,000 people have effectively been deported.
People left due to well-founded fear of arbitrary arrest, detention without fair trial, torture, threats of child abduction, as well as restrictions on the right to work and access to education.
Forced expulsion from Belarus is not the end of suffering for those being persecuted, but, on the contrary, becomes the beginning of transnational persecution by the regime.
The scale of transnational repression is intensifying every year and today affects almost everyone who has been expelled from the country," Pavel Latushka noted.
Pavel Latushka emphasized that in 2023, Belarusian consulates stopped issuing and extending passports, and also refused to process other important documents, such as powers of attorney necessary for conducting property transactions. It was also emphasized that the regime has unleashed a campaign of judicial persecution, using trials in absentia against Belarusians abroad to punish those who openly oppose Lukashenka's regime.
"Such procedures often end with draconian sentences of up to 20 years of imprisonment – solely for exercising fundamental human rights, for openly opposing crimes committed by the regime, and for showing solidarity and support for those persecuted by the regime," Pavel Latushka noted.
Pavel Latushka's full speech during the special event within PACE is available on the official website of the People's Anti-Crisis Management.
Analysis of the situation with transnational crimes against Belarusians on Pavel Latushka's YouTube channel.
This special event was organized by PACE rapporteur Konstantinos Efstathiou, the Group of Socialists, Democrats and Greens at PACE, and the organization "Platform for Peace and Justice".
Konstantinos Efstathiou is now working on preparing a special report dedicated to crimes of a transnational nature. According to an agreement between Pavel Latushka and Konstantinos Efstathiou, a significant part of the document is planned to be devoted to issues of transnational crimes against Belarusians. Subsequently, these materials may be used to advance issues of legal accountability of representatives of Lukashenka's regime for committing this type of crime.
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