Katsiaryna Andreeva received a prestigious award for a live stream that led to her imprisonment

Andreeva was awarded the prize back in 2021 for a live stream from the Square of Changes, during which she was detained and subsequently prosecuted in Belarus, Belsat reports.

Darya Chultsova, who worked with Katsiaryna Andreeva at the Square of Changes, was also honored with the award for "unbreakable performance of the journalistic profession in conditions requiring strong personal courage."

"Thank you for such a high appreciation of our work. The report, which was broadcast live for three hours, was honored with this prestigious award a few weeks after a Belarusian court recognized the same report as a crime and deprived me and my colleague Darya Chultsova of freedom and the opportunity to pursue our beloved profession," Katsiaryna Andreeva said at the award ceremony.

She shared that although she is in a free country, surrounded by free people, her heart and soul are with her colleagues who remain imprisoned solely for being journalists.

"Andrzej Poczobut, Dzianis Ivashyn, Liudmila Chekina, and 21 other people, including my husband — journalist Ihar Ilyash. All of them bravely and selflessly performed their main professional duty — to tell people the truth. I am convinced that thanks to the efforts of many people around the world, Belarusian journalists will gain freedom.

With gratitude and respect, accepting today the special Dariusz Fikus Award, I want to quote the words of Theodore Roosevelt: 'The best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.' I am happy to have such a gift," said Katsiaryna Andreeva.

Павялічыць

In an interview with Belsat, she noted that this award is a great honor: "Naturally, when I received the award in 2021, I learned about it, and it became a source of strong support and gave me strength during my imprisonment."

However, she emphasized that the broadcast for which she was punished was not made for awards, but for Belsat viewers.

The journalist noted that during the event, it was primarily important for her to once again remind the world and her colleagues from Poland about the imprisoned journalists. She added that Minsk must release political prisoner Andrzej Poczobut without preconditions.

"Poland has already taken steps to meet halfway, opened border crossings, and it would be very logical, ethical, and even beneficial for Minsk's image, perhaps, if a freed Poczobut were to travel through these open crossings. I hope that next time all journalists will be released, and the regime will not continue its repression and will not continue to take new hostages," Andreeva said.

Dariusz Fikus was a Polish journalist, publicist, and editor, one of the key figures of the Polish press during the late period of the Polish People's Republic and the beginning of democratic transformations.

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