Belarusian government intensifies targeting of exiled university students abroad

Human rights organisation Amnesty International is reporting that Belarusian authorities are increasingly "persecuting, intimidating and targeting" students and others connected to the European Humanities University (EHU) located in Vilnius, Lithuania.

EHU is a private, non-profit liberal arts university founded in Minsk in 1992. Following its forced closure by the Belarusian authorities in 2004, it relocated to Vilnius. It currently offers undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral degrees to 1,500 students, the majority of whom are from Belarus.

In April 2026, the Belarusian Supreme Court labelled the university as an “extremist organisation", which led to an intimidation campaign. Human Rights Watch said in June 2026 that people currently or formerly affiliated with EHU had been arrested…