The Prosecutor General of Belarus, Andrei Shved, has filed a petition with the Supreme Court to recognise the European Humanities University (EHU) as an “extremist organisation,” the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.
If EHU is recognised as such an organisation, its activities on the territory of Belarus will be prohibited, as well as the use of “symbols and attributes” of the educational institution. Belarusians who study at this university and teachers who give lectures there will also be persecuted.
Earlier, a student who studied at the “School of Leadership for Women” was convicted in Belarus: this educational project was also recognised in Belarus as an “extremist organisation”:
EHU was founded in Minsk in 1992, but has been operating in Vilnius since 2004, after its license was revoked in Belarus. About 80% of EHU’s current students are Belarusian, and there are also many Belarusians among the faculty, but the university accepts students from all over Eastern Europe and offers them the opportunity to study in Russian, Belarusian, and English. In total, the university has about 1,500 students and about 100 faculty members. The institution claims that its students receive a fully accredited European Union diploma, which opens the door to professional and academic opportunities in Europe and beyond.
If the university is recognised as an “extremist organisation,” many young Belarusians will be afraid to study there and will most likely choose to study in their home country or in Russia, which will not allow them to go to work in Europe or the United States after receiving their diploma.
“The university’s activities are supervised and financed by several foreign states, including the European Union, non-governmental organisations and foundations,” the Prosecutor General’s Office of Belarus states as the basis for recognising the organisation as “extremist.” The Belarusian authorities also claim that EHU “positions itself as a Belarusian university in exile” and “interacts with representatives of various extremist groups, such as the Svetlana Tikhanovskaya Team, as well as the foreign terrorist organisation, United Transitional Cabinet.” This structure was created by representatives of the Belarusian opposition in exile.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Belarus also claims that the university “carries out targeted work to destabilise the socio-political situation in Belarus, provides methodological, organisational and financial assistance to representatives of “radically politicised groups” (all those whom they consider oppose Lukashenko’s regime) and is allegedly “used by the special services of some neighbouring states to harm the interests of Belarus in the political, humanitarian and information spheres.”
The university, according to the Belarusian authorities, also prepares “Belarusian youth for the implementation of Western scenarios for transforming the political system in Belarus” and promotes “the so-called democratic values and ideas of Europeanness.”
The Belarusian authorities also note that several university professors and graduates have been charged in their home country with criminal cases under political articles: “inciting social hatred and discord,” “conspiracy to seize state power,” “calls for restrictive measures aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus,” and others.
Настоящее Время
