“Nine months ago, I was still in prison in harsh conditions and could not imagine ever being free…” said the human rights defender.
In Washington, Ales Bialiatski, the head of the "Viasna" Human Rights Center, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and former political prisoner, was honored with a medal from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) for his many years of work for freedom, human rights, and democracy in Belarus, writes "Viasna".
“It is an honor for me to be awarded a medal for service to democracy alongside prominent people who fought for freedom and against totalitarianism, such as Václav Havel and Oswaldo Payá… Two years ago, you honored the Belarusian democratic leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya with this medal, and now I am here — this is a recognition of the freedom-loving aspiration of the Belarusian people, who want to live in an independent and democratic country…” commented Ales Bialiatski on the award.
NED announced that this time it awarded the Nobel laureate for his contribution to the service of democracy and specifically noted that Ales Bialiatski endured imprisonment and persecution for resisting authoritarianism, documenting abuses by the Belarusian regime, and defending people whose fundamental rights were violated.
“Nine months ago, I was still in prison in harsh conditions and could not imagine ever being free… Not for a single minute since my release do I forget that there are still more than 900 prisoners in Lukashenka's prisons,” said the human rights defender.
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