{"id":208346,"date":"2026-10-21T15:07:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T12:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208346\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T15:07:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T12:07:33","slug":"cichanouskaja-discusses-support-for-belarusian-students-ehus-future-with-its-rector","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208346\/","title":{"rendered":"Cichano\u016dskaja discusses support for Belarusian students, EHU\u2019s future with its rector"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\n The rector meeting with Cichano\u016dskaja\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (Cichano\u016dskaja's press office)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

October 21, <\/strong>Pozirk.<\/strong><\/em> \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja met in Warsaw with European Humanities University (EHU)\u2019s Rector Vilius \u0160adauskas to discuss support for Belarusian students and the university\u2019s future, the Belarusian pro-democracy leader\u2019s press office reported on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cichano\u016dskaja played up the value of EHU for Belarusian civil society and stressed that its \u201cBelarusian mission and focus\u201d should be preserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cichano\u016dskaja and \u0160adauskas reportedly discussed ways of expanding EHU\u2019s Belarusian focused training programs, Belarusian language instruction and Belarusians\u2019 participation in decision making as well as holding meetings with Belarusian civil and academic communities soon to discuss the university\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cichano\u016dskaja stressed the need to support EHU students, alumni and faculty who have faced repression, with many unable to return to Belarus after the regime designated the university as an \u201cextremist organization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 14, 2026, the Supreme Court of Belarus designated EHU as an \u201cextremist organization.\u201d D\u017amitryj Brylo\u016d, a departmental chief at the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office, claimed that the exiled university provided support to radical politicized groups and destructive foreign NGOs and is used by state security agencies to cause damage to Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Association with an \u201cextremist\u201d group in Belarus carries a penalty of two to seven years in prison.
Authorities opened a criminal case over tuition fees paid to EHU since 2016, with individuals linked to the university facing charges of facilitating and financing \u201cextremism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of May, Rector \u0160adauskas told the Belarusian Association of Journalists that about 100 students had already left the university fearing extremism-related persecution in Belarus. Two lecturers and several IT workers employed on a part-time basis also resigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 17, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported that at least 175 people had been subjected to politically motivated persecution over links to EHU, including more than 110 students and their relatives in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the report, Belarusian law enforcers conducted more than 60 searches targeting EHU\u2019s alumni, students and staff as well as their relatives in early June. The Committee for State Security (KGB) openly threatens the parents of current students, who live in Lithuania, with criminal prosecution if they fail to talk their children into terminating their studies within 10 days and returning to Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relatives of some students are said to have been arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EHU was founded in Minsk in 1992 as a pioneering independent institution that introduced Western-style liberal arts education and critical thinking to post-Soviet Belarus. Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s government shut EHU down in 2004, prompting its relocation to Lithuania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to its website, EHU receives support from the European Union, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the governments of Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Iceland, and other donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until recently, Belarusians accounted for about 74 percent of EHU\u2019s students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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