Name Alyaksandr Kazulin | Role Political leader | |
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Alyaksandr kazulin challenging europe s last dictator
Alyaksandr Kazulin (Belarusian: 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 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. He is married and has two daughters.
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. 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, 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."
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, the official charge being of hooliganism and incitement to mass disorder during the events of 25 March. Amnesty International 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.