Yesterday on 21 December, the Belarusian National Assembly amended the Law on Citizenship. When signed by Lukashenko, this law will open the possibility for depriving Belarusians living abroad of their citizenship.

The EU condemns this bill that is a further step in the Belarusian regime’s brutal persecution of all independent voices. Representatives of the democratic forces, media and civil society, who have fled the country to escape persecution, could thus risk becoming stateless.

This would be in breach of international law. Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights protects everyone’s right to a nationality and prohibits its  arbitrary deprivation.

The amendment to the Law of Citizenship is just another example of the increasing lawlessness in Belarus. There are now more than 1440 political prisoners in the country often detained in inhumane conditions, trials take place behind closed doors and judgments are delivered in absentia. Earlier this year, the scope of the use of the death penalty was widened to include “attempted acts of terrorism”, a charge that might easily be made arbitrarily for political reasons and in the absence of any transparency or due process of law. 

The EU will continue to support a free, independent and democratic Belarus.