Libereco expands support for politically persecuted Belarusians
Libereco is now offering extrajudicial legal counselling for victims of political persecution from Belarus. This step will ensure crucial long-term support for victims of repression and state persecution, which the Belarusian Community Razam e.V. previously provided.
Libereco has a new programme: Legal Help. The team comprises three experts and provides out-of-court legal advice for politically persecuted Belarusians. It is supported by volunteers and is now moving from the Belarusian Community Razam e.V. to Libereco at the request of all those involved and in close consultation to continue its work seamlessly with Libereco. Enquiries to Legal Help can be sent by email to help@libereco.org.
Thus, both organisations are continuing to join forces and optimise their efforts to support current and released political prisoners as well as victims of repression and state persecution from Belarus.
Support for politically persecuted Belarusians
Legal Help supports Belarusian nationals obtaining safe and permanent residencies by providing legal counselling and assistance. Based on extensive expertise in the current legal situation in Germany and Belarus and in-depth knowledge of the country and local contacts, Legal Help can provide targeted and sustainable information when accompanying cases to facilitate appropriate decisions. The team acts as a mediator and literally as a translator between authorities, political decision-makers, lawyers and refugees.
Although grants partly finance Legal Help, as currently from the UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe, Libereco is still dependent on donations, for example, to help politically persecuted people and their relatives on an ad hoc basis or to pay for specialised lawyers.
Hundreds of Belarusians already helped
The team has been providing legal support and integration work for refugees from Belarus since 2021. When supporting refugees and working with the authorities, the Legal Help team draws on the experience it has gained in supporting almost 1,000 cases to date.
Legal Help is the only entity in Germany that provides nationwide and online expert support for Belarusian refugees in their native language. It offers individual support, information, and guidance on residence and asylum law issues, done by a nationwide network of volunteers, partners, and specialised lawyers. Legal Help collects and translates first-hand information from Belarus and is in constant exchange with local organisations and individuals.
The programme’s target group includes:
- Asylum seekers, asylum seekers and recognised refugees
- Persons who have been granted humanitarian admission (§22 sentence 2 AufenthG) or are forced to submit such an application
- Doubly displaced persons from Ukraine
- Belarusian activists whose residence status is endangered by the decree of 7 September 2023, which prohibits the issuance of identity documents abroad. The decree potentially affects 30,000 Belarusians in Germany alone.
