Searches and interrogations are being carried out across Belarus targeting people connected in one way or another to the European Humanities University (EHU). According to reports, security services are threatening students’ relatives with criminal prosecution unless their children withdraw from the EHU.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Advisor on Legal Affairs, Leanid Marozau, comments on the situation:
“If the regime has indeed launched criminal proceedings against people because of their connection to EHU, this is yet another confirmation that repression in Belarus has long since expanded beyond political opponents and now targets education, academic freedom, and the fundamental right to knowledge.
These developments do not demonstrate the strength of the state — they reveal its fear of free, educated, and independent citizens. Criminal law must not be used as a tool against universities and academic freedom.
Reports of pressure on students’ relatives and threats of criminal prosecution against family members are particularly alarming. Such methods amount to collective punishment and are incompatible with the rule of law and Belarus’s international obligations.
The EHU was established as a space of free education for Belarusians. Attempts to criminalize ties to the university constitute an attack on Belarus’s future and its younger generation.
We call on international partners, human rights organizations, European universities, and democratic institutions not to ignore this situation, to respond publicly to this new wave of repression, and to support students and academic staff”.
