WRITTEN EVIDNECE SUBMITTED BY ANONYMOUS

(TRUK0062)

I’m a Belarusian writer and activist. I left Belarus in 2021 following being detained for nine days in September 2020 in Minsk after joining a peaceful protest following the fraudulent election of Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Arriving in the UK as a Chevening Scholar, I remained in the UK due to concerns related to my safety were I to return and ongoing PTSD from my earlier detention. 

In 2023 I contacted the Belarusian embassy in the UK to request a new passport as my existing document was running out of pages. I was told (on the phone) by the embassy staffer that “[y]ou support sanctions with such vigour that we won’t be providing you a service. Your new passport is ready and is waiting for you in Belarus. You can go and collect it there. If you have nothing to be afraid of.” Due to continued concerns of arrest if I returned to Belarus, as well as resistance from the UK Government in issuing temporary travel documents, I was left in bureaucratic limbo that threatened my ability to travel freely. 

On 4 September 2023, a few weeks after I had spoken to the embassy, the Belarusian government published an announcement that no Belarusian citizens living abroad would be able to get new passports at overseas embassies, leaving returning to Belarus the only option available to renew their travel documents. This ruling affects up to half a million people who fled overseas to escape Lukashenka’s regime.

(Feb 2025)