Amnesty International on Tuesday sentenced Belarusian authorities have published reports of alleged persecution, intimidation and systematic attacks on students and staff at the European Humanities University (EHU). According to the organization, the measures constitute a violation of the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
Commenting on the long-term impact of imposing such measures on an educational institution, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:
“Authorities have already classified EHU as an ‘extremist organization’ and are increasingly targeting those associated with it. The growing scope of these actions raises concerns that authorities may seek to take further action, including through a demonstrative ‘anti-extremism’ process involving students, graduates, staff and their families.”
The European Humanities University (EHU) is a private, non-profit humanities university founded in 1992 in Minsk, Belarus. In 2004, the Belarusian Ministry of Education revoked the university’s accreditation Licensewhich forced the university to move to Vilnius, Lithuania in 2005. On April 14, 2026, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus made a decision governed to classify the European Humanities University as an extremist organization because it allegedly “interferes with the sovereignty of Belarus, the foundations of the constitutional order and public security.” In its landmark ruling, the Supreme Court also banned the university’s activities and the use of its symbols and attributes in Belarus.
Since then, Belarusian authorities have launched a massive campaign tracking more than 110 EHU students and graduates, as well as their relatives and family members. They were subjected to searches, interrogations, detentions and threats, and were forced to put pressure on their family members leave the university and return to Belarus. In total, at least 175 people are affected by the raid, including 100 have withdrawn from the university.
This is not the first time that the law has been used to label the EHU as an extremist organization and has been criticized as problematic. In 2023, a report by a United Nations expert said that Belarusian authorities are doing this Abuse of counterterrorism and anti-extremism laws to further purge civic space, suppress freedom of expression, and stamp out political opposition.
The report also found that Belarusian legislation provides loose definitions of “terrorism” and “extremism,” which can be interpreted to include terrorism-related activities legitimate exercise of human rights, and also that the organizations and individuals classified as “extremist” are mostly people who have previously experienced arbitrary harassment, searches, fines or imprisonment because of their dissenting political opinions.
Outspoken activist Svetlana Tikhanovskayawho previously led the Belarusian democratic movement from exile following the disputed 2020 presidential election and regularly advocates for the freedom of more than 1,500 political prisoners held by the regime, has criticized the ongoing repression of the EHU, saying the allegations are baseless propaganda designed to interfere with academic freedom.
From now on, international human rights organizations such as: Human Rights Watchcall on the Belarusian authorities to stop persecuting people associated with the EHU. Meanwhile, the groups expressed hope that Lithuanian authorities will also investigate any allegations of human rights violations against EHU students.
