Help and support for political prisoners and repressed students in Belarus

Venue: Minsk (Belarus)
Period: December 19, 2010

The presidential elections held in Belarus on December 19, 2010 confirmed Alexander Lukashenko leader of the country. The election results were contested by thousands of opposition supporters who converged on October Square in Minsk. Arrests of hundreds of protesters, including opposition leaders, followed the mass street protests and a group of 10 students from Lithuania was arrested and detained in Minsk among the others.
 
The President of the Istituto per l'Europa Centro-Orientale e Balcanica (Italy), Prof. Stefano Bianchini, expresses his full solidarity to the students detained in Belarus and stands by the initiatives taken in their support.
 
Here a selection of web pages where you can get further information on both the case and the country is offered:
http://www.hrw.org/en/world-report-2010/belarus,
http://ec.europa.eu/world/enp/index_en.htm,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/317411.stm,
http://www.lphr.org/en/news/

 
On January 5, 2011, the European Humanities University (Vilnius) gave updates on the detained students.
 
On March 91-10, 2011 the European Humanities University (Vilnius) released two press releases on two EHU students. One of them received International Women of Courage Award, but was unable to attend the ceremony because of travel restrictions imposed by the Belarusian government. The other student was sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment in Belarus and has been recognized as prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.  
The EHU students expressed their solidarity with their colleague who has been convicted for political reasons in a letter.
The press releases and the students' letter are available in English, Russian and Lithuanian.