The EU Has Designated belarus As a Police State Where Criticism of the Authorities Has Become a Criminal Offense

The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) has published a comprehensive report on the human rights situation in belarus, covering the period from January 2025 to April 2026. The document confirms what has long been known, but is now presented systematically and for official use: lukashenko’s regime has turned repression into routine.

Following the presidential election in January 2025 – in which lukashenko won his seventh consecutive term – the authorities continued their systematic persecution of participants in the 2020 protests. Thousands of people were sentenced on politically motivated charges or were forced to emigrate.

The criteria for prosecution are defined as broadly as possible. Criticism of the authorities, support for Ukraine, or any connection to organizations designated as extremist are subject to criminal prosecution. According to the report’s authors, the legislation is used as a tool to suppress any dissent.

The judicial system functions as a tool of political repression: trials are held in absentia or behind closed doors. The police carry out large-scale surveillance of the population within the country and of the belarusian diaspora abroad. Citizens returning to belarus are subjected to systematic searches, phone checks, and interrogations at checkpoints.

Repression has long gone beyond the scope of personal liability. The punitive machinery extends to the relatives of activists and political prisoners: they are subjected to searches and interrogations, and their property is confiscated.

The EUAA report serves as official reference material for the immigration authorities of EU countries when considering asylum cases. The fact that 71% of applicants from belarus are granted protection speaks louder than any diplomatic rhetoric.