Alyaksandr Kazulin ( be, Аляксандр Уладзіслававіч Казулін, russian: Александр Владиславович Козулин, born 25 November 1955 in
Minsk) is the former leader of the
Belarusian Social Democratic Party and one of the candidates who ran for the office of
President of Belarus on 19 March 2006. He was a rector of the
Belarusian State University (BSU) from 1996 to 2003 and a government minister serving under Belarus
President Lukashenko but later fell out of favor. He holds a PhD in mathematics and
pedagogy.
Several weeks before the election, on 2 March 2006, Kazulin was beaten and detained by police after attempting to enter the
All Belarusian People's Assembly
The All Belarusian People's Assembly ( be, Усебеларускі народны сход, russian: Всебелорусское народное собрание) is a general meeting of the Belarusian Government with industry leaders and other ...
. He was charged with disorderly conduct and released after being held in custody for eight hours.
During the events following the
19 March 2006 presidential election, on 25 March, Kazulin was present in a confrontation between demonstrators and police. Reportedly he walked to the commanding officer with flowers in his hand, and police knocked him off his feet, beat him up, and then detained him. In a post-election interview Kazulin said, "We're not afraid of tanks and violence; we're afraid of prisons and having no freedom. We're tired of living in a spiritual prison."
On 13 July 2006, Kazulin was sentenced to jail for five and a half years at a court in Minsk. He was convicted for his role in the March protests with the official charge being of
hooliganism and incitement to mass disorder during the events of 25 March.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
recognized him as a
prisoner of conscience.
On 26 February 2008, he was allowed to attend his wife's funeral, after threatening to
starve himself if he was not released. On 16 August 2008, he was released from prison altogether.
References
External links
Official home page
1955 births
Living people
Politicians from Minsk
Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Assembly) politicians
Candidates for President of Belarus
Belarusian State University alumni
Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Belarus
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