Freedom House Adopts Case of Imprisoned Belarusian Civil Society Expert Tatiana Kouzina

Washington, DC—Freedom House announced today that the Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners has adopted the case of imprisoned Belarusian civil society expert Tatiana Kouzina.

“Freedom House is proud to stand with Tatiana Kouzina and fight for her release. As we have documented, Belarus’s political regime is one of the most repressive in the world, featuring rigged elections, severe restrictions on journalists and civil society, and a judiciary subservient to the country’s authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has been in power since 1994,” said Jamie Fly, CEO of Freedom House “It is tragic but not surprising that the Lukashenka regime would imprison experts like Tatiana, who could otherwise serve as an independent source of information and a credible voice of dissent. We call for Tatiana to be immediately and unconditionally released.”

Kouzina is a prominent researcher, analyst, and expert on civil society and public administration. She co-founded multiple research and civic education initiatives in Belarus, including the School of Young Managers in Public Administration, and taught at several universities in Belarus and elsewhere in Europe. On June 28, 2021, she was detained at Minsk National Airport while attempting to depart to Tbilisi, Georgia. After nearly two years in pretrial detention she was convicted on baseless charges, including calling for actions aimed at causing harm to national security, conspiracy to seize power in an unconstitutional way, and incitement to hatred, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Her imprisonment is part of the regime’s broader attack against civil society, including the Belarusian research and expert community.

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