The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski is, according to opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, recognition for “all Belarusians fighting for freedom”.
She seizes the opportunity to demand that all political prisoners be released. The Norwegian Nobel Committee calls on Belarus to release Bialiatski as soon as possible. He has been imprisoned in his country for tax evasion since 2020, but supporters say he is a political prisoner without trial.
Bialiatski’s wife says she is “overwhelmed with emotions” after the news. She thanks the Norwegian committee for recognizing the work Bialiatski and his colleagues are doing.
Democratic movement
He was one of the initiators of the democratic movement that started in Belarus in the 1980s. Bialiatski is the head of the human rights organization Viasna, which means ‘Spring’. That organization is known as the most prominent critic of President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime and its repression.
The Belarusian opposition says the activist is in prison under “inhumane conditions”. Several of Bialiatsky’s supporters hope that this award will contribute to his release and that of thousands of others who have spoken out against Lukashenko.
Bialiatski was awarded the prize together with two human rights organizations, the Russian Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties. The Nobel Committee hopes that he himself will be able to receive the prize in Oslo in December as a free man.