New rector of International Institute MITSO expels participant of silent protests
Valiantsin Fiadziuk, fourth-year student of the International
Institute MITSO (higher educational establishment of the Federation of Trade
Unions of the Republic
of Belarus) was expelled
for participation in a silent protest action. The order for his expulsion was
signed by the new rector, Stanislau Kniazeu.
The formal reasons for the expulsion are: absenteeism from classes, violation
of the rules of the student dormitory and disorderly conduct. It's quite
interesting that the admonition for missing classes was issued to the student a
year ago, on 7 October 2010. Petty violations of the dormitory rules were also
committed in October 2010. By the way, the hardest punishment for such violations
can be eviction from the dormitory, not expulsion from the educational
establishment. The student wasn't evicted, though.
We should consider the third reason, “disorderly conduct”, more attentively.
Valiantsin Fiadziuk was detained on 29 June 2011 (the expulsion order provides
a wrong date, 9 June) at the central square
of Salihorsk, during a
silent protest action. He was detained to the Salihorsk District Police
Department together with the whole family of Shylas. As a result, almost the
whole family was imprisoned, and Fiadziuk was fined 175,000 rubles.
The previous rector didn't expel the student for this incident, he just asked
for written explanations. The university administration doesn't hide the fact
that the real reason for Fiadziuk's expulsion is his participation in the
silent protest action. The activist intends to appeal against his expulsion at
court.
We should also provide some details of Stanislau Kniazeu. He was born in Novosibirsk, graduated from the Academy of Security
(the higher educational establishment of the KGB). He has the rank of major
general. Earlier he headed the Military Counter-intelligence Bureau of the
Belarusian KGB and the National Security Institute of the KGB. In the beginning
of the 2000-ies he was the deputy state secretary of the Security Soviet of the
Republic of Belarus and the first deputy head of the
Presidential Administration. Since 2003 he also headed the Academy of Management
of the President of the Republic
of Belarus.