DISINFO: EU countries will deport Belarusian dissidents by the end of 2024
SUMMARY
Belarusian dissidents are going to face mass denials in [the granting of] temporary residence permits in the EU member states. Permits issued earlier will also be massively revoked. Belarusian nationals will therefore be banned from living, working, eating, drinking and breathing in the EU. They will eventually be deported to Belarus. This scenario is going to unfold until December 2024. The authorities of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and other EU countries will benefit from handing Belarusian dissidents over to Belarus. By late 2026 around 80% of those who received criminal sentences in absentia will find themselves in Belarusian prisons. [07:02-09:10]
RESPONSE
This conspiracy theory and disinformation is aimed at discrediting the EU and EU member states and intimidating Belarusian nationals who had to leave Belarus due to fear of persecution on political grounds and currently reside in the EU.
The EU and EU member states comply with their international human rights obligations. There is no indication that they are going to groundlessly revoke residence permits of Belarusian nationals or hand over individuals under international protection to the Belarusian regime.
The EU repeatedly denounced human rights violations carried out by the Lukashenka regime and voiced solidarity with the Belarusian people. In February 2024, the Council expressed its continued and deep concern about the deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus and strongly condemned the continuing persecution and intimidation campaigns against all segments of Belarusian society.
The human rights situation in Belarus remains dire. According to a report by the Viasna human rights organisation, as of 30 June 2024, Belarus had at least 1,413 political prisoners who were kept in particularly harsh conditions. In 2023 at least 6,386 people faced administrative persecution on politically motivated grounds, and almost 4,500 of them were eventually convicted in administrative cases.
Read our reports on large-scale repression against journalists, civil society, and Belarusian society here, here and here. We have also reported here and here how at times repressions in Belarus take absurd forms.