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- Repressions
– On March 25, another trial has started against Tsikhan Osipau, a political prisoner, lecturer of the Belarusian National Technical University, previously sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment. A court session took place in the colony where Tsikhan is serving his sentence. He was convicted of “malicious disobedience to the demands of the administration of the correctional institution” (article 411, part 2 of the Criminal Code) and sentenced to additional 7 months of imprisonment. The political prisoner's wife was not allowed to the trial.
– Anastasiya Vaitovich, a Belarusian State University History Faculty student, was sentenced to three years of restricted freedom in an open penal facility. Judge Anastasiya Achalava found Anastasiya guilty of “organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order” for participating in 2020 peaceful protests in Belarus. Before the trial, Vaitovich had spent almost 4 months in the pre-trial detention center. Human rights defenders recognized Anastasiya as a political prisoner on December 14, 2021.
– On March 23, Tatsiana Vadalazhskaya, a social scientist, coordinator at the Flying University, and founder of various training and civic education projects, was detained in Minsk. After her previous detention on August 4, 2021, when Tatsiana spent 10 days under administrative arrest, she was released as a suspect under Art. 342 part 1 of the Criminal Code (“Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order”). It was reported that Tatsiana had appealed to the Investigative Committee of Belarus for permission to go to Lithuania for medical treatment, but instead of endorsing the application, the Committee detained Tatsiana. She is now in the pre-trial detention center at Valadarskaha St. in Minsk.
– A fourth-year Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics student Yauhen Maliauka was detained in his dormitory, allegedly on February 15-17. Yauhen is charged with Art. 342 of the Criminal Code (“Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order”). The student is now in the pre-trial detention center at Valadarskaha St. in Minsk.
– On March 23, the court in Babruisk started hearing the case of the school history teacher Larysa Sekiarzhytskaya. She is accused of illegal picketing with blue and yellow ribbons in her hair. Larysa was detained on March 4, when her colleagues reported her to the police. She claimed the police confiscated her phone, forced her to undress, and searched her. The colleagues who reported her did not show up for the court hearing. The judge decided to question them during the next hearings.
– On March 25, in the auditorium of Homiel Automechanical College, the police demonstratively detained a minor in the audience of 200 students.
– The pro-regime Telegram channels shared videos of two students of the Homiel College of Cooking saying they are “sorry” for publishing videos of military equipment movements on TikTok.
– The Hrodna State University administration fired Albina Semianchuk, Candidate of Historical Sciences, associate professor of the Belarusian culture department. On March 23, it was reported that her contract was not renewed. Politically motivated dismissals at Hrodna University started last year.
- Regime’s policy
– On September 1, all universities and colleges in Belarus will introduce three new compulsory courses: History of Belarusian Statehood, Modern Political Economy, and Philosophy. Students will have to study them regardless of their major. Minister of Education Andrei Ivanets, commenting on the new features, said that now “first-year students will be able to view the well-known historical facts in the context of social and political developments”.
– Belarus’ government agencies resumed affixing Apostilles necessary to confirm documents abroad, including when applying to foreign educational institutions. The service had been unavailable since March 10, and after the agencies resumed acceptance of documents, its cost increased tenfold, following the March 21 resolution of the Council of Ministers.
– The Belarusian State University official labor union offers to join the discussion of the new bargaining agreement draft. Whereas, the Free BSU Union started compiling another report on violations of the running bargaining agreement, emphasizing the massive illegal dismissals of faculty staff and the failure of the official BSU union to fulfill its duties.
– Academics dismissed on political grounds spoke about political pressure at universities and colleges. They claim that the KGB instructs the university administrations to deal with “unreliable” employees.
– On March 24, Belarusian schools held lectures on the events in Ukraine, titled “Belarus as a country of peace, friendship and good neighborliness”. The lectures were held “to form students’ understanding of Belarus’ peaceful policy”, as evidenced by the lesson plans published on the National Educational Portal website. Schoolchildren are offered to read interviews and publications of a pro-governmental historian and propagandist as a verified source of information.
– Belarusian schools are hiring people for the heads of military-patriotic education. New ideological classes might appear in the school schedules soon. It is noteworthy that the job advertising in most cases does not include work experience requirements.
– On March 25, Belarusian National Technical University hosted a students’ meeting with propagandist Aliaksandr Shpakouski. Shpakouski spoke about the strengths of Lukashenka's regime and touched upon Russia’s war against Ukraine, saying that it was Ukraine that started the aggression first.
– On March 17, a school in Minsk held an uncommon lesson for 9th graders. The local Department of Education announced that the children were taught the forms and methods of underground military resistance, including sabotage, raids and terrorist attacks against occupying authorities, anti-fascist propaganda, and attracting people into partisan units.
– Students of a school in Hrodna met with a military ideologist from Minsk, who spoke about the negative attitude towards Belarus in all neighboring countries, except for Russia. Especially groundless, according to the speaker, is Ukraine’s enmity towards Belarus.
– In the Homiel region, school students were asked to fill out a questionnaire on patriotic topics, agreeing or disagreeing with various statements. The statements varied from “those who criticize what is happening in the country cannot be considered real patriots” to “judging against “our” athletes at international competitions is often unfair, because no one likes Belarusians”.
– Students of Baranavichy Palace of Children's Art were forced to take part in the ceremonial reception of the “historical memory train” in which the employees of law enforcement agencies were heading to a memorial event in the Brest Fortress. The pro-regime Youth Union members, as well as staff of Baranavichy police, local detention center, military commandant's office, and other security bodies also joined the ceremony.
– Uladzimir Aliaksandrau, a philosopher in Minsk and former BSUIR lecturer, in an interview spoke about how he was dismissed from the university in 2018 because he was teaching classes in the Belarusian language and attempting to defend his rights. He also talked about his emigration to Israel.
- Civil society and education
– Representatives of the international Russian-speaking academic community published a petition to support Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian free scientists affected by Russia’s war against Ukraine. More than 100 professors from universities in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Finland signed the petition.
– The Community of independent researchers of Belarus in Germany launched a petition to support independent scientists working in Belarus or of Belarusian descent. The petition authors urge the international scientific community to abstain from breaking off relations with those Belarusian scientists within and outside Belarus who do not support the Lukashenka regime.
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Representative on Education and Science, Ph.D. Tatiana Shchyttsova assessed the new Education Code. In her analysis, it makes education “a disguised form of social slavery”.
– European Humanities University hosted a charity event in support of Ukraine. The event featured performances from University students and Belarusian musicians and a fundraiser for the BlueYellow Lithuanian foundation, which collects and delivers ammunition and medical equipment to Ukraine.
