On December 9, 2009, the Kirov regional branch of YABLOKO,
released a statement (signed by Tatyana Naumovich, Chair of
YABLOKO’s Kirov branch) in support of YABLOKO’s activist Anton
Zhebrun.
The Kirov party branch expresses its indignation on the fact
of expelling Anton Zhebrun, activist of the Youth YABLOKO,
from the Omsk State University under a faked pretext and considers
such actions of Vladimir Strunin, the University rector, against
YABLOKO’s member a political persecution.
This is a sad fact. It took place in the university; whereas
the very word “university” is associated with academic freedom
and the freedom of speech – freedom to ask, freedom to find
truth on any phenomena and views, regardless of the fact whether
such points of view hurt any officials or not. The notion
of academic freedom is incompatible with the making political
views a pretext for expelling from the university.
Anton Zhebrun was expelled under a faked formal pretext for
“skipping lectures” during the recent quarantine on the flu
(despite he good academic record – his average grade in 4.6
out of the maximum of 5), when students and teachers were
prohibited to come to the university. This was done in violation
of the law on the higher education prohibiting expelling students
during quarantine periods, illness, vacations or academic
leaves.
The real cause for expelling the student was his participation
in YABLOKO’s picket.
YABLOKO demands that the University should urgently revoke
the expelling of Zhebrun and ensure that he can continue education
at the political science faculty of the Omsk University.
See also:
the Omsk YABLOKO web-site
Human
Rights
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