Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko signed a law on citizenship which the Belarusian National Assembly amended on Dec. 21. Authorities can now strip citizenship from any native Belarusians, including those residing abroad, for extremism and “causing grave harm to the interests of the state." The law also introduces a requirement to notify authorities on whether one holds citizenship or permanent residency of another country.
The EU criticized the law and said in a statement that it "will open the possibility for depriving Belarusians living abroad of their citizenship."
"...This bill is a further step in the Belarusian regime’s brutal persecution of all independent voices," reads the statement. "Representatives of the democratic forces, media and civil society, who have fled the country to escape persecution, could thus risk becoming stateless."
