English

Opposition activist asks Polish education minister for opportunity to sit general education exam in Poland

Ivan Shyla, a prominent young opposition activist who is doing 18-month compulsory service in the Belarusian army, has asked Polish Education Minister Katarzyna Hall for the opportunity to sit his last general education certificate examination in Poland, BelaPAN said. 

In June 2008, the then 17-year-old Shyla was expelled from a school in Salihorsk, Minsk region, one day before his last graduation examination in the English language.

In his letter, Mr. Shyla, deputy chairman of Malady Front, condemns his expulsion as politically motivated, according to the press office of the Czech-registered opposition youth group.

The young man says that he was denied justice in Belarus because of "the dependence of the Belarusian judiciary on the executive branch." In February 2009, "I was forcibly and unlawfully drafted into the army in violation of all legal procedures and standards," Mr. Shyla says.

Franak Vyachorka, leader of the youth wing of the Belarusian Popular Front, and Malady Front member Zmitser Fedaruk are in a similar situation, he adds.

According to Mr. Shyla, the Belarusian defense and education ministries are making different excuses not to allow him to sit his final school exam despite earlier assurances that he would be able to obtain a general school certificate while in the army.

Mr. Shyla expresses hope that the Polish education minister will give him the opportunity to take the exam. The Polish government has always been more efficient than others at supporting Belarus’ civil society, he said, referring to the Polish government’s Kastus Kalinowski educational assistance program for victims of political persecution in Belarus as evidence.

The official grounds for the Mr. Shyla's expulsion from school were that the student had frequently violated the school's regulations by participation in unsanctioned demonstrations and other opposition activities.

On January 19, 2009, Mr. Shyla issued a statement condemning his imminent recruitment into the military as a "form of politically motivated persecution."

According to Mr. Shyla, he was declared unfit for military service by the first health commission that examined him. The Salihorsk district military recruitment office sent him to a hospital for another health examination. Nonetheless, the recruitment office had declared him fit for military service before a medical report on the state of his health was ready.

Mr. Shyla is a soldier of the 29th Surface-to-Air Missile Brigade, which is located near Lepel, Vitsyebsk region.