BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/07/2007

Belarusian Opposition Leader Calls On KGB To Stop Pressuring Students

Former opposition presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich has sent a letter to State Security Committee (KGB) Chairman Stsyapan Sukharenka urging him to stop pressuring Belarusian students involved in Poland's educational-assistance program, Belapan reported on July 16. "KGB officers invite students to private apartments for 'conversations,' meet them at railroad stations as they return to Belarus on vacation, visit students and their parents at their home or workplace. KGB agents often try to cow students into so-called cooperation," the agency quoted Milinkevich's letter as stating. Last year, Poland offered scholarships to some 300 Belarusian students who were expelled from universities in Belarus for opposition activities, mostly for their participation in street protests in the wake of the presidential election on March 19, 2006. JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/07/3-cee/cee-170707.asp