Alyaksandr Kazulin (, , born 25 November 1955 in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

) is the former leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party and one of the candidates who ran for the office of

President of Belarus The president of the Republic of Belarus is the head of state of Belarus. The office was created in 1994 with the passing of the Constitution of Belarus by the Supreme Council of Belarus, Supreme Council. This replaced the office of Supreme_Counc ...

on 19 March 2006. He was a rector of the Belarusian State University (BSU) 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 Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

Biography

Kazulin was born on 25 November 1955 in

. In 1972, he graduated from school No. 87 and entered the evening department of the Mathematics Department of Belarusian State University. During this period he worked part-time as a lab technician in physics class at school. Served in the Baltic Navy in the Marines from 1974 to 1976. After the army, he worked in the forging shop at the Minsk Tractor Plant. In 1976 he continued his studies at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Belarusian State University, he graduated with honours in 1983. From 1983 to 1986 he was a postgraduate student in the Department of Differential Equations. After defending his thesis in 1986 (scientific supervisor Prof. M. A. Lukashevich), Kazulin started working as a senior teacher. From 1988 to 1996, he worked in the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, reaching the position of Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Belarus. He made a significant contribution to the reform of the state education system. He is one of the authors of the 'Act on Education of the Republic of Belarus' and the 'Concept of Education and Upbringing of the Republic of Belarus'. In 1995, he defended his doctoral thesis on new educational technologies at the Moscow State Pedagogical University. On 8 August 1996, he was appointed Rector of the Belarusian State University.

Political activity

In December 2005, Kazulin registered his candidacy for the 2006 presidential election. His election campaign was the most censored of all candidates, and Lukashenko marked Kazulin as his main personal enemy. Several weeks before the 2006 presidential election, on 2 March 2006, Kazulin was beaten and detained by police after attempting to enter the

All Belarusian People's Assembly The All-Belarusian People's Assembly, or ABPA, is the highest organ of state power of the Republic of Belarus. Established in 1996, it was granted wide-reaching powers as a result of the 2022 Belarusian constitutional referendum and has since be ...

. Witnesses testified that police fired into the air to stop a car carrying journalists and members of Kazulin's election team. Kazulin 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 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 with the official charge being of

hooliganism Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, often in connection with crowds at sporting events. A hooligan is a person that engages in illicit reckless behaviors and is a public nuisance. Etymology ...

and incitement to mass disorder during the events of 25 March.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

recognized him as a

prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...

. On 26 February 2008, he was allowed to attend his wife's funeral, after threatening to go on hunger strike and with significant pressure from EU and US officials onto Belarusian government. On March 7, 2008, the US announced sanctions against all state enterprises of the petrochemical complex of Belarus. As David Kramer openly stated, the reason was "the unwillingness of the Belarusian government to release Alexander Kozulin". On 16 August 2008, Kazulin was released from prison. Since 2008, Kazulin has refused any offers to return to politics.

External links

Official home page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kazulin, Alyaksandr 1955 births Living people Politicians from Minsk Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Assembly) politicians Candidates for President of Belarus Belarusian State University alumni Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Belarus