Student Persecution in Belarus – Students expelled

Brussels (ESIB), January 24, 2007 – ESIB – the National of Students in Europe has been receiving alarming news proving that student persecution in Belarus still persists.

On 27th of December Nadzeya Mantsevich, who represented the Belarusian student movement during the ESIB Board Meeting in Belgrade (May 2006), was expelled from her university – the Belarusian State Pedagogical University.
 
The formal reason given by authorities was “systematic breaching of discipline and university rules”

She was among 29 people detained on 22nd December following a party in the Belarusian Student Association office. On 27th of December she was removed from the list of students and informed about the fact on the next day.

This is not the first expulsion from this university. The university became infamous in March 2006 when Luda Asipienka, a well-known student activist, was expelled. Many NUSes as well as ESIB have sent letters of protest to the rector of this university.

During last weeks of  2006 several other students were also expelled. On the 29th of November two students of the Belarusian State Agricultural Academy – Aliaksandr Strachuk and Dzianis Sarokin – were expelled because of their public activities.

ESIB is extremely concerned about this situation. Expulsion from university for political reasons is a breach of human rights.

ESIB is launching campaign of support for persecuted students from Belarus which consists of two actions. The first one is sending letters of protest to the authorities of the universities from which the above mentioned students were expelled and to the ambassadors of Belarus in European countries. Secondly, ESIB is planning to set up an online dossier about scholarship programs in European countries for students expelled from Belarusian universities for political reasons and any other programs thanks to which expelled students will still be able to complete their studies.