Dr Aliaksandra Kuznetsova

Belarus Expert — Human Rights, Political Situation & Asylum Cases

Expert at The Human Rights Experts, an international expert witness organisation.

We provide expert witness reports for asylum cases worldwide, covering human rights violations, political persecution, and systemic oppression. Our reports are trusted by lawyers, courts, and immigration authorities, in full compliance with procedural standards and tribunal requirements in the UK (CPR Part 35, Upper Tribunal PD, First-tier Tribunal IAC PD), USA (Federal Rules of Evidence), Canada, and the EU.

Occupation

• Country Witness Expert on Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and Moldova
• Human Rights Specialist
• Legal Researcher and Academic Consultant
• Independent Journalist and Investigative Reporter on Human Rights

Expertise

I provide expert analysis on all five Refugee Convention grounds — political opinion, religion, ethnicity, membership of a particular social group (including LGBT and gender-based cases), and nationality — with a focus on the following countries:

Belarus: Belarus has become a consolidated authoritarian state in which virtually any civic or political activity independent of the regime is met with criminal prosecution, with the authorities maintaining over 1,000 political prisoners as of recent counts, including journalists, human rights defenders, trade union leaders, students, and ordinary citizens detained for participating in protests, subscribing to opposition Telegram channels, or making donations to solidarity funds. The security apparatus employs systematic torture and ill-treatment of detainees, including sexual violence, prolonged isolation, denial of medical care, and threats against family members, to extract confessions and punish dissent. Ethnic Polish minority institutions, including schools and cultural organizations, have been targeted for closure, and leaders of the Polish minority community have been imprisoned on extremism charges. Women who participated in the protest movement face gender-specific persecution, including sexual humiliation in detention and threats of removal of parental rights, and domestic violence remains inadequately addressed by state institutions. LGBT individuals face severe societal hostility compounded by state propaganda that associates the opposition movement with Western values and sexual deviance, and independent religious leaders — including Catholic clergy who supported protests — face prosecution, deportation, and denial of residency permits.

Ukraine: The ongoing Russian military invasion has created mass displacement, with civilians in occupied territories subjected to forced russification, arbitrary detention, and filtration processes that involve interrogation, confiscation of devices, and selection for further detention or forced transfer to Russia. Roma communities face discrimination, hate crimes, and periodic mob violence, and internally displaced persons from Crimea and Donbas face ongoing challenges in accessing documentation, housing, and services. Women face conflict-related sexual violence and a surge in domestic violence exacerbated by wartime conditions, and LGBT individuals face societal prejudice and absence of legal partnership recognition despite contributing to the defence effort.

Russia: Russian authorities have escalated repression to levels not seen since the Soviet era, with mass criminal prosecutions for anti-war expression, the designation of virtually all independent civil society as undesirable or extremist, and the forced mobilization of ethnic minority men from peripheral regions at disproportionate rates. The persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses as an extremist organization continues with hundreds imprisoned, and Chechen communities face a regime of terror under Kadyrov's rule. Women face domestic violence in a legal environment that has weakened protections, and LGBT individuals face a comprehensive framework of legal discrimination, societal violence, and state-sanctioned persecution.

Moldova: Moldova faces political fragmentation and external destabilization, with the Transnistria region controlled by separatist authorities backed by Russian military forces, where residents face restricted movement and political repression. The Gagauz Autonomous Region experiences tensions over foreign policy orientation, and Roma communities face systemic exclusion. Women face domestic violence and are disproportionately targeted by trafficking networks, and LGBT individuals face hostility from conservative societal forces and inadequate anti-discrimination enforcement.

Experience

• Provided expert witness testimony and reports in over 70 asylum proceedings before UK immigration tribunals and US immigration courts, specializing in post-2020 Belarusian political persecution claims, Ukrainian conflict-related cases, and Russian dissent cases.
• Submitted expert evidence to the Upper Tribunal and the Board of Immigration Appeals on the Belarusian political prisoner system, conditions of detention, and the treatment of protesters, journalists, and minority activists.
• Authored country condition reports on political repression, the criminal justice system, and the treatment of dissidents and minorities in Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and Moldova for legal practitioners and international protection organisations.
• Served as Lecturer in Human Rights and International Law at the European Humanities University (in exile, Vilnius), with research focused on authoritarian governance, political imprisonment, and transitional justice in Eastern Europe.
• Collaborated with international non-governmental organisations, exile-based media, and human rights monitoring bodies to document political imprisonment, torture, and the systematic dismantling of civil society in Belarus and the wider Eastern European region. Expert member of The Human Rights Experts.

Full professional experience is available in the CV. Please email us to receive the detailed expert CV.

Publications

Available upon request and detailed in the expert CV.

Languages

• Belarusian (Native)
• Russian (Native)
• English (Fluent)
• Polish (Professional proficiency)
• Ukrainian (Professional proficiency)

Religious Groups Expertise

All religious groups

Contact Email

info@thehuman-rights.com