Alaksandar Kazulin

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Alaksandr Kazulin (Belarusian: Аляксандр Уладзіслававіч Казулін), born 25 November 1955, is the leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party and one of the candidates who ran for the office of President of Belarus on March 19, 2006.

Kazulin was born in Minsk. He was a rector of the Belarusian State University from 1996 to 2003 and a government minister serving under Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko but later fell out of favor. He holds a PhD in mathematics and pedagogy. He is married and has two daughters.

Several weeks before the election, on March 2, 2006, Kazulin was beaten and detained by police after attempting to enter the All Belarusian People's Assembly. He was charged with disorderly conduct and released after being held in custody for eight hours.^{[2] [4] [5]}

During the events following the March 19 presidential election, on March 25, Kazulin was present in a confrontation between demonstrators and police. 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.^[3] In a post-election interview, despite Lukashenko's win, 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."^[6]

On July 13, 2006, Kazulin was jailed for five and a half years at a court in Minsk. He was convicted for his role in the March protests, the official charge being of hooliganism and incitement to mass disorder during the events of March 25. ^[7] Amnesty International recognizes him as a prisoner of conscience. On February 26, 2008 Kazulin was temporarily released from his jail in Vitsyebsk to attend his wife's funeral, after threatening to starve himself if he's not released.[1]

[edit] References

1. ^a  BBC "Belarus rally marred by arrests", 2 March 2006
2. ^b  The remarkable consistency of Lukashenko, March 9, 2006, Angus Reid
3. ^c  Belarus: 'They Knocked My Husband Down and Dragged Him Away', Time magazine, March 25, 2006, Yuri Zarakhovich
4. ^d  Kazulin & Belarus' "elections"
5. ^e  Belarus: Tightening the screws on dissent, Amnesty International, March 14, 2006
6. ^f  Belarus Opposition Candidate Kozulin: 'We’re Fed Up’ With Dictatorship, Lionel Beehner, Council on Foreign Relations, cfr.org, March 22, 2006.
7. ^f  BBC Belarus opposition leader jailed, 14 July 2006

Academic offices
Preceded by Fiodar Kapucki	Rector of the Belarusian State University 1996 – 2003	Succeeded by Vasil Stražaŭ

[edit] External links

• Official home page