{"id":195538,"date":"2026-07-13T22:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T19:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/195538\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T22:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T19:32:14","slug":"law-enforcers-harass-exiled-writer-filipienka-over-his-studies-at-ehu","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/195538\/","title":{"rendered":"Law enforcers harass exiled writer Filipienka over his studies at EHU"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n \"\"\n
\n \n
\n (Gio Kardava)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

July 13, Pozirk. <\/em><\/strong>Law enforcers visited exiled writer Sa\u0161a Filipienka\u2019s home in Belarus to ask his family about his studies at the European Humanities University (EHU), blacklisted as an \u201cextremist\u201d organization earlier this year, he told Belsat<\/em>. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey probably wanted to find out exactly what I did at the EHU, even though I only completed my first year there,\u201d said Filipienka, who had been enrolled at EHU when it was still based in Minsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer added that Belarusian security forces keep pressuring him over his literary activities. \u201cAllegedly, the second [criminal] case is because of an interview where I talked about [the book] Elephant. Since it is \u201cextremist,\u201d I\u2019m supposedly not allowed to talk about my books,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the 2020 political unrest in Belarus, Filipienka has become a voice of the Belarusian protest movement in Europe, where he resides. He has advocated for Belarusian political prisoners in the Russian, German, English, Swedish, Dutch, Polish and French press. The writer supports Ukraine in its fight against Russian invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 14, 2026, the Supreme Court of Belarus designated the EHU as an \u201cextremist organization.\u201d D\u017amitryj Brylo\u016d, a departmental chief at the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office, claimed that the exiled university provides 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

The 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 student body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n
\n \"\"