Amnesty International on Tuesday condemned the Belarusian authorities following reports of persecution, intimidation and systematic targeting of students and affiliates of the European Humanities University (EHU), actions which the organization said constitute violations of the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
In commenting on the long-term implications of the imposition of such measures on an educational institution, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, stated: “The authorities have already designated the EHU as an ‘extremist organization’ and are increasingly targeting those associated with it. The expanding scope of these measures raises concerns that the authorities may seek to pursue further action, including through a demonstrative ‘anti-extremism’ trial involving students, graduates, staff and their relatives.”
The European Humanities University (EHU) is a private, non-profit liberal arts university founded in Minsk, Belarus, in 1992. In 2004, the Belarusian Ministry of Education revoked the university’s license, forcing the university to move to Vilnius, Lithuania in 2005. On 14 April 2026, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus ruled to designate the European Humanities University as an extremist organization, for allegedly “encroaching on the sovereignty of Belarus, the foundations of the constitutional order and public security.” In its seminal judgment, the Supreme Court also banned the university’s activities, as well as the use of its symbols and attributes within Belarus.
Since then, the Belarusian authorities have started a massive campaign in which more than 110 EHU students and graduates have faced persecution, along with their relatives and family members. They have been subjected to searches, interrogations, detention and threats, and forced to pressure their family members to quit the university and return to Belarus. In total, at least 175 people are known to have been affected by the crackdown, and 100 have withdrawn from the university.
This is not the first time that the law has been utilized to label EHU as an extremist organization has been criticized for being problematic. In 2023, a report from a United Nations expert says that the Belarusian authorities are misusing counter-terrorism and anti-extremism legislation to further purge civic space, suppress freedom of expression and eradicate political opposition.
The report also noted that the Belarusian legislation provides loose definitions of “terrorism” and “extremism” which can be interpreted to include activities related to the legitimate exercise of human rights, and also that the organizations and individuals who are labeled as “extremist” are mostly people who have previously experienced arbitrary harassment, searches, fines, or detention because of their dissenting political opinions.
Outspoken activist Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who previously led the Belarusian democratic movement from exile following the disputed 2020 presidential election and routinely advocates for the freedom of more than 1,500 political prisoners detained by the regime has criticized the ongoing repression of EHU, stating that the charges were baseless propaganda designed to encroach on academic freedom.
As of now, international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, are urging the Belarusian authorities to stop the persecution of people connected to EHU. Meanwhile, the groups expressed hope that the Lithuanian authorities also investigate all allegations of human rights abuses against EHU students.
