Lukashenko wants to steal the passports of Belarusians

NAM lawyer Mikhail Kirilyuk in an interview with Belsat commented on the latest actions of the regime

The idea of depriving critics of the authorities of their citizenship is no more legitimate than Lukashenko's "presidency" itself. Citizenship is a legally formalized mutual connection of a person and the state. It is defined not by political views and adherence to ideology, but by the place of birth and residence, the obligation to serve in the army, the obligation to pay taxes, and so on.

In return, a citizen receives protection inside and outside the country, inviolability of private property, constitutionally guaranteed right to build a life and career in the country, to elect mayors, deputies and the president himself.

De facto, the Belarusans who were forced to leave (and those who stayed behind) have already been deprived of their citizenship. They were left with only the "right" to pay taxes. That is why the legal "deprivation" of the passport is yet another ungrounded populist gesture of the regime, which means nothing but a complete devaluation of the fundamentals of law in the country.