Congolese citizen deported from Belarus after 6-month detention

A citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Patrick Mangalua, left Belarus after almost 6 months of detention.

BelaPAN had learnt it from the Interior Ministry of Belarus.

Information about Patrick Mangalua went public due to the activists, who were preventively detained ahead of the ice hockey world championship in Minsk and thrown into a detention centre in Akrestsin Street. After the release, the activists told a story of a foreign national who has been in custody for a long time. The communication process was difficult, as Patrick knows neither Russian nor English, but activists say he is a war veteran from Congo and suffered a concussion. They say the prison staff didn't give him an interpretor, and the foreign citizen was ill-teated.

According to the department of citizenship and migration, Patrick Mangalua came to Belarus to study at a university at the expense of his home state, but he was expelled. The university informed the interior ministry about it and asked to help the young man return home, because he had no legal grounds to stay in Belarus.

“A ticket was bought for the foreign national, a representative of Congo arrived in Minsk and the police took the man to the airport,” says the official answer of the Interior Ministry to BelaPAN's request for information about the foreign citizen in the detention centre.

According to the law-enforcement bodies, Patrick Mangalua conducted disorderly at the airport, resisted police officers and refused to go home. He was charged with disorderly conduct and sentenced to 15 days in a detention centre in Akrestsin Street in Minsk on December 28, 2013.

“When the term expired, the citizen of Congo was proposed to return home. The young man refused. He was explained that he could apply for asylum to seek additional or temporary protection in Belarus, but Patrick Mangalua did't file the application,” the Interior Ministry says.

A deportation procedure was initiated. There are no directs flights from Belarus to Congo, so it took much time for the ministry to organise the transit flight through third countries.

“The request [for the transit flight] has been approved recently. Patrick Mangalua received the news and said he was ready to leave Belarus voluntary. He left for Congo via Turkey on Thursday, June 5,” the Interior Ministry said.