Armenia Granted Refugee Status To Belarusian Detainee

He was detained at the request of the Belarusian authorities.

Belarusian Yaraslau Novikau, who was detained in Armenia at the request of the Belarusian authorities, was granted refugee status, Radio Liberty reports.

"Yaraslau has just received refugee status, a little later he will be free," Araik Papikyan, a lawyer with the Helsinki Association of Armenia, told the publication.

Yaraslau Novikau was detained in Armenia on the border with Georgia on February 2. During the border control, it turned out that Minsk had put him on the CIS interstate criminal wanted list because of a criminal case for evading compulsory military service.

Novikau was living in Georgia and going to move to Bulgaria, but the embassy in Tbilisi did not issue him a visa. The Belarusian decided to go to Yerevan to apply for a visa there.