Belarusian journalist Andrei Mialeshka lands in Warsaw after being denied entry to Georgia

Jour­nal­ist Andrei Mialesh­ka arrived in War­saw at 3:30 a.m. on Sep­tem­ber 17. He had spent almost a day at the air­port in Kutaisi, where he and his 11-year-old daugh­ter were held in a spe­cial room for depor­tees.

Andrei Mialesh­ka on a plane to War­saw. Sep­tem­ber 17, 2024. Pho­to: Ales Liauchuk

There was no word from Andrei Mialesh­ka for many hours. His cell phones were tak­en from him and his daugh­ter and only returned after board­ing the plane. The flight to War­saw on Sep­tem­ber 16, on which the jour­nal­ist was to be deport­ed, was post­poned four times.

Mialesh­ka and his daugh­ter only had their pass­ports returned when on board the plane. The IDs were tak­en from the Belaru­sians when they were detained and denied entry. Andrei and his daugh­ter then applied for inter­na­tion­al pro­tec­tion in Geor­gia but were dis­missed because they could not present their pass­ports. Human rights activists say this is a vio­la­tion of their rights.

Andrei Mialesh­ka was nev­er informed of the rea­son for the denial of entry to Geor­gia, where he and his daugh­ter had been resid­ing for three years. The bor­der guard offi­cers said they were not autho­rized to dis­close the infor­ma­tion.

Andrei’s wife came from Batu­mi to pick up her daugh­ter, but she was not allowed to do that or even see the girl. The woman stayed in Batu­mi with her younger daugh­ter.