Britain cannot deport a Belarusian for 25 years — he lies to Belarusian authorities, claiming he's not one of their citizens. And they won't take him home

London. Illustrative photo

The Supreme Court of Great Britain has put an end to a case that had lasted for a quarter of a century: a citizen of Belarus took his unwillingness to return to his homeland to the kingdom's highest judicial body — and lost. But the very fact that the case reached there is already worthy of a separate story.

The court has kept the hero's name secret: it is forbidden to disclose anything that would allow his identification. In the documents, he appears simply as "AM."

How it all began

AM arrived in Britain in 1998, when he was 21 years old. He requested asylum but was refused. British authorities decided to deport him to his homeland — and that's when things got interesting.

In 2001, he was put on a plane to Belarus. But at the border, AM told Belarusian border guards something that made them decide: this person is not Belarusian. They did not let him in and sent him back to London.

From that moment on, the scheme worked flawlessly. Time and again, Britain tried to transfer AM to Minsk — via the embassy in 2003, via a telephone interview with Belarusian officials in 2019. And each time, the Belarusian side, after hearing him, concluded that they could not identify him as their citizen and refused to issue documents.

The Supreme Court itself put it dryly: AM "developed a deliberate strategy of lies, obfuscation, and deception" to prevent his identity from being confirmed.

Result: it is impossible to deport him because the country to which he is being sent does not recognize him as its own citizen. And he has no other homeland.

Life without permits, but also without deportation

All these years, AM has lived in Britain in limbo — without a residence permit, without the right to work, without access to full medical care, on minimal assistance.

During this time, he managed to accumulate several convictions — for inflicting bodily harm and unlawful imprisonment, for document forgery, and for carrying a weapon — as well as health problems and addiction.

He complained precisely about this suspended state, arguing that it violates his right to private life, and that Britain is obliged to finally issue him a residence permit and allow him to work.

And two lower courts agreed with him.

What the Supreme Court said

But the five judges of the Supreme Court did not. Unanimously, on April 24, 2024.

The logic is simple: the person himself created his situation through deliberate lies, and to reward him for this with a residence permit means to show everyone else that sabotaging one's own deportation works. The state has already provided him with shelter and food so that he would not end up on the street — and Article 8 of the European Convention requires nothing more.

AM remains in Britain in the same suspended state. No one has been able to prove that he is Belarusian. But they also don't want to recognize him as British.

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