As we have written more than once, Lithuania is designating Belarusian citizens as national security threats on a mass scale and expelling them from the country.
The grounds for such decisions are often the simple fact of having worked at a Belarusian state-owned enterprise. The Migration Department explains it this way: all employees of state enterprises in Belarus undergo vetting by the security services, and if they passed that vetting, then they are loyal to the Lukashenko regime and dangerous to Lithuania.
When we described this practice on our social media — TikTok, Instagram and YouTube — Belarusians affected by it came into the comments.
Here are just a few of the stories they shared with us: “Worked at Polimir 10 years ago — deported,” “Worked at Vitebskgaz in 2015, and now I’ve been given a deportation order,” “I was thrown out because I worked at MTZ back in 2008,” “Worked at MAZ 15 years ago — they didn’t renew [my residence permit] and gave me a 5-year deportation ban.”
Some of them also write that they did not challenge the decision declaring them a national security threat, because they “didn’t even have the will for it.”
That is a valid position too, and we understand it. But we would like to ask these people for help.
Please send us the Migration Department decisions by which your residence permit was cancelled or its renewal refused. Anonymised versions are fine.
We are closely studying and systematising how the law is being applied in this area. The more cases we examine, the more compelling our case before the local authorities will be — and the more effectively we will be able to defend those who decide to fight.
We would be very grateful for your help. Decisions can be sent by direct message on any of our social media accounts, or to email.
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