KGB, military hunt for student activist in Belarus

Aleh Hrubich, a freshman at the Vilnius, Lithuania-based European Humanities University, has been placed on the black list of Belarus citizens who are banned from leaving the country. He was charged with evading the military service. When at a conscription office, two KGB agents sought a meeting with the young man. In an interview with the European Radio for Belarus, Aleh Hrubich said that he was on a Vilnius-bound train to catch up with his studies when he was taken off at the Belarusian border on the grounds that he was banned from traveling abroad. The Department of Visas and Registrations said he was wanted by a local military conscription office. When there, Hrubich was told that KGB, Belarus's security service, sought an interview with him.

Hrubich: "When we arrived at the conscription office, there were two agents standing nearby who wanted to talk to me. When at a conscription office, they came in and closed the doors behind... But i don't fear the army!"

The young man is worried that the secret services could interrupt his scientific and cultural activities. Hrubich studied at the Arts Academy in Minsk but was expelled in for taking part in the March 2006 youth protests. Formally, he was evicted for a poor academic performance.

Currently, Hubich has enrolled for the History of Belarus and Cultural Antropology course at the European Humanities University. When in Vilnius, he spearheaded the national dictation to mark 90 years of Belarus's first declaration of independence. In addition, the young man translates the Japanese literature into Belarusian and is compiling a Belarusian-Japanese dictionary.