BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

08/11/2006

Belarusian Political Prisoner To Study At Ukrainian University

Artur Finkevich, who was sentenced in May to two years of enforced labor for writing antipresidential graffiti (see "RFE/RL Newsline," May 11, 2006), has been accepted as a student of the faculty of international relations at the Kyiv-based Institute of Slavic Studies, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported on November 7, quoting Oleh Yatsenko, leader of the Ukrainian youth organization Student Brotherhood. Yatsenko told RFE/RL that the rector of the institute made an exception for Finkevich by allowing him to study under a special distance-learning program. "In connection with repressions in Belarus, activists of the Student Brotherhood decided to help the Belarusian students, who were expelled from universities or repressed in Belarus, in enrollment for free-of-charge studies in Ukraine. In this way we will uphold the democratic movement in the neighboring country," Yatsenko said. JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2006/11/3-cee/cee-081106.asp