Talented chemistry student admitted to Lithuanian university. He is still in Minsk jail
Imprisoned Belarusian student Artsyom Bayarski has the opportunity to continue his studies in Lithuanian university, human rights centre Viasna reports.
The young man has been admitted to Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas (BA in Biotechnology). As soon as the 20-year-old political prisoner is released, he could move to the neighbouring country and extend his knowledge.
Artsyom Bayarski was detained by the Minsk police on April 18 after serving 25 days of arrest for participating in a peaceful assembly. He was charged under Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code (creation of an extremist formation). Bayarski was taken into custody in pre-trial prison Nr 1 in Minsk. As reported earlier, infamous Belarusian propagandist Ryhor Azaronak posted a video that showed Artsyom’s confessing to administering a public group on social media. On April 19, the arrestee told his lawyer that the police officers repeatedly hit him on the back and buttocks with truncheons during the detention in late March in order to make him appear in the video.
Prior to the arrest, Artsyom was a student of Chemistry Department of the Belarusian State University (BSU). He became a fellow of the President’s Special Fund to Support Talented Youth four times, but in August 2020 he withdrew from obtaining a presidential scholarship in protest. As a schooler, he repeatedly took winning places in National Chemistry Olympiads.
The Belarusian human rights community declared Artsyom Bayarski a prisoner of conscience.
