Germany refuses political asylum to Belarusian opposition activist

Political emigrant Yury Rubtsou has been refused political asylum in Germany, according to the activist's post on Facebook. He will most likely return home now.

Rubtsou is known in Belarus as ‘the T-shirt man’: he used to wear T-shirts with different mottoes at street actions. The best-known motto is ‘Lukashenka, leave!’ Rubtsou was detained for it after the Chernobyl Way in 2014 and sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment for contempt of court.

The activist refused to work in prison due to the low pay.  He demanded to be getting the official average wage reported in the state mass media – at least 500 dollars a month. A criminal case for punishment evasion was started against him in connection with the refusal to work. Rubtsou was sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment in May 2015. Alyaksandr Lukashenka pardoned him in August 2015.

The activist asked for political asylum in Germany at the beginning of 2016.