Belarusian authorities have opened a criminal case over alleged cooperation with the European Humanities University (EHU), and have carried out searches and interrogations of suspected associates, the human rights group Viasna reported.
EHU is a private university that operated in Minsk from 1992 until Belarusian authorities shut it down in 2004, after which it relocated and has continued operating in Vilnius. The independent Belarusian news outlet Zerkalo describes the EHU as one of the key educational centers for Belarusian students.
In mid-April, the Supreme Court of Belarus declared the EHU an “extremist organization” and banned its activities in the country. The Prosecutor General’s Office warned that studying, working, or conducting financial transactions connected to the EHU could result in criminal liability under Belarus’s extremism laws.
The specific charge in the new criminal case remains unclear, though human rights advocates believe it involves participation in so-called extremist activity.
Security officials are known to have visited 12 Belarusian residents suspected of ties to the university. Viasna says security officials have also been visiting EHU students, threatening them and their relatives with prosecution unless the students withdraw from the university.
Viasna said that while authorities would formally need to prove a connection to the EHU to bring charges, confessions obtained under torture could still be sufficient under current conditions. The group urged teachers, students, and anyone else with ties to the EHU not to return to Belarus and not to engage with university’s social media accounts.
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