Alyaksandr Kazulin discusses his heart-wrenching tale as a prisoner of conscience in Belarus and his courageous experience campaigning as a presidential candidate against Alexander Lukachenko, widely considered Europe's last remaining dictator. Belarus is governed by one man and ruled by violence and unpredictability. The legal system has been crushed, Kazulin tells us, while civil rights have been suppressed and all media outlets destroyed. Belarus has one of the highest rates of suicide and alcohol consumption, and is ranked 170th out of the 178 happiest places to live.

About

Alyaksandr Kazulin is a Belarusian opposition politician and a former prisoner of conscience. From 1996 to 2003, he served as rector of the Belarusian State University and as a government minister under Alexander Lukashenko. He ran for president of Belarus in 2006 as leader of the Belarusian Socialist Democratic Party. Kazulin was beaten and arrested several weeks before the voting for attempting to enter the All Belarusian People’s Assembly; he was once again detained and assaulted six days after the vote during a peaceful demonstration protesting the fraudulence of the election. In July of 2006, he was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for hooliganism and inciting mass disorder, although his imprisonment was likely a politically-motivated move to remove one of the leading critics of Lukashenko's regime. Internationally, he was recognized as a prisoner of conscience and granted early release in August of 2008.

When Kazulin was labeled an "opposition leader" and fired from his position as dean of a widely respected university, he became the leader of the social democratic party and ran for president, even though getting involved in politics in Belarus comes with great risk. Those who worked on his campaign were fired from their jobs, and Kazulin was kidnapped and publically beaten twice by the regime's security personnel. Lukachenko won the election, and arrested hundreds of innocent people who protested the results in Minsk. Kazulin was arrested for organizing a peaceful vigil with flowers outside the prison where many protesters were being held illegally. He was sentenced to 5 years, of which he served 2½ before international pressure resulted in his release.

While in prison, Lukachenko offered Kazulin and his family deportation and a better life somewhere outside of Belarus. He and his family refused, calling the offer a disgrace. This decision resulted in the death of Irena, Kazulin's wife, who did not have access to proper medical care as long as she remained in the country.

Today, thousands of people in Belarus remain wrongly imprisoned. Kazulin implores us to fight dictatorship together as we would an illness, because "dictatorship is similar to allowing an infection to be spread." He is no longer afraid of the authorities, though they are afraid of him. He reminds us, "those who continue to live in fear will never be free."