UN experts on Monday warned that the expulsion of political prisoners from Belarus and subsequent invalidation of their passports may amount to transnational repression, enforced statelessness, and rights violations.
The concerns stem from the December 2025 release of 123 prisoners to Ukraine and Lithuania following negotiations with the United States. Most of these individuals were detained for peacefully exercising their rights. Among those released are activists within the Belarusian rights group Viasna, leading political opposition figures, and an editor of the largest news outlet in the country.
Upon removal to Lithuania and Ukraine, eight prisoners discovered that their Belarusian passports were declared invalid without any notice or explanation, despite remaining valid at the time of their forcible expulsion. The experts stated that the arbitrary invalidation of documents severely affects these individuals’ essential rights, such as freedom of movement, legal status, family life, and access to employment, healthcare, and banking services.
The December release was not the first or last group of political prisoners to be released in Belarus with no protections in place to safeguard their basic rights. In March of this year, 250 arbitrarily detained individuals were released; 52 were released in September 2025; and several were released in 2023, including Leanid Sudalenka, the former head of Viasna.
In their report, UN experts expressed special concern over Sudalenka, who left Belarus due to continuing persecution and is now facing additional criminal investigations in absentia under a “special proceedings” framework for “extremist” offenses.
Experts warned that the special proceedings framework is incompatible with “fundamental fair trial guarantees, including the rights to effective notification, access to case materials, legal representation, meaningful appeal and effective remedy.”
The moves add to a reported pattern of transnational repression under 32-year President Alexander Lukashenko, Europe’s longest serving head of state.
Despite the gradual release of prisoners, the state of human rights in Belarus has not improved. According to a 2025 year-end report by Amnesty International, about 200 individuals were facing criminal investigations for peacefully exercising their rights in the capital alone. This was part of a renewed effort by authorities to prosecute protestors against the “rigged” 2020 election before the statute of limitations elapsed.
Recommendations to improve essential rights and reduce statelessness were officially accepted by Belarus following its 2025 Universal Periodic Review by the UN Human Rights Office, but significant changes have not been made. The UN experts called on the country to act on these recommendations, stating that “Belarus must urgently cease using its vague and overly broad anti-extremism legislation to punish the legitimate exercise of protected rights.”