Stanford Draper Hills’ fellow arrested and beaten in Belarus

The alumni community of the Stanford Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program condemns the arrest of our 2015 fellow from Belarus, Aleś Łahviniec, who suffered a head injury and broken nose after two policemen broke into his home on March 23. He was one of more than a hundred activists arrested, a complete list can be found here. Łahviniec is a prominent civil society activist in Belarus. He attended the prestigious Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program at Stanford University in 2015 and has joined an alumni community of over 300 activists and leaders across 70 countries supported by the Omidyar Network. The program is taught by leading political scientists, including; Michael McFaul, Francis Fukuyama, Larry Diamond, and Kathryn Stoner, among others. As members of the Draper Hills’ alumni community, we call on members of the international community to condemn the attack and demand for his immediate release. We also call upon support by lawyers of conscience in Belarus to support Łahviniec and others wrongfully imprisoned.

-Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University, USA

-Michael McFaul, Stanford University, USA

-Sarina Beges, Stanford University, USA

-Sadaf Minapara, Stanford University, USA

-Djurdja Jovanovic Padejski, Stanford University, USA

-Judith February, Institute for Security Studies, South Africa

-Mauricio Alarcón-Salvador, Fundamedios - Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo, Ecuador

-Nino Evgenidze, Economic Policy Research Center, Georgia

-Lilit Petrosyan, Etichs Commission of High-Ranking Officials, Armenia

-Givi Chanukvadze, Economic Policy Research Center, Georgia

-Dmytro Potekhin, European Strategy Group, Ukraine

-Myat Ko Ko, Yangon School of Political Science, Burma

-Ala'a Shehabi, Bahrain Watch; University of Lancasater's Work Foundation, Bahrain

-Eka Kemularia, Democracy and Development Center, Georgia

-Raja Manohar, Hexolabs Interactive Technologies (P) Limited, India

-Alina Belskaya, German Marshall Fund of the United States, Georgia

-Darko Brkan, Informational and Communication Technology, Bosnia and Herzegovina

-Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai, Human Rights Founder, Sierra Leon

-Olga Stuzhinskaya, Minsk, Belgium

-Oluseun David Onigbinde,  BudgIT, Nigeria

-Astghik Gevorgyan, The Central Bank (CB) of Armenia Diversity Office, Ontario Public Service (Canada), Armenia

-Roukaya Kasenally, Africian Media Initiative (AMI); Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy (EISA), Mauritius

-Anna Sevortian, EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, Russia

-Mohammed Nosseir, Global Marketing Consultancy, Egypt

-Denis Volkov, Levada Center, Russia

-Lisseth Boon, www.runrun.es, Venezuela

-Olga Aivazovska, All-Ukrainain NGO :Civic Network "OPORA", Ukraine

-Dala Ghandour, Chamber of Commerce of Beirut and Mount-Lebanon, Beirut

-Shain Abbasov, Council of Europe, Azerbaijan

-Laura Gil, Minister of Interior, Colombia

-Chandralal Majuwana, Chulalongkorn University, Sri Lanka

-Yusmadi Yusoff, Lawyer & Chairman of RIGHTS Foundation, Malaysia

-David Tola Winjobi, CAFSO-WRAG for Development, Nigeria

-Huong Le, UNDP, Viet Nam

-Yuri Dzhibladze, President, Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, Russia

-Rafolisy Patrick, Executive Director, NGO Ivorary (Integrity 4 Development), President, MEDEM (Mouvement Ethique et Développement de Madagascar), Madagascar

-Auni Sulaeman, Iraq

-Chito Gascon, Commission on Human Rights, Philippines

-Ester Hakobyan, Children of Armenia Fund, Armenia

-Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, Nonviolent Initiative for Democracy Inc (NID), Iran

-Thinley Choden, Social Entrepreneur, Bhutan 

-Oludotun Babayemi, Connected Development, Nigeria

-Natalia Yudina, SOVA center, Russia

-Svitlana Zalishchuk, Member of Parliament, Ukraine

-Gladwell Otieno, AfriCOG, Kenya

-Vera Tkachenko, Kazakhstan

-Nkiru Celine Okoro, Nigeria

-Iryna Vidanava, Belarus