Belarus’ opposition leader: Aleś Bialacki is our hero

December 10, BPN. The Nobel Committee has made the best possible decision by awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the Belarusian human rights activist Aleś Bialacki, the Russian Memorial, and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatłana Cichanoŭskaja said.

“Human rights defenders are our guardian angels,” she said at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee’s reception on the eve of the award ceremony scheduled for December 10 in Oslo. “Guardian angels of all those who fight for freedom and justice. They save lives, they protect people, and they keep tyrants in fear.”

The condition of human rights defenders is also a barometer of freedom, she added. “When they thrive, it means society and democracy are healthy. When human rights defenders are in prison, it’s time to raise the alarm,” the politician noted.

“When you live under a dictatorship, you need reassurance that if something happens to you, someone will take care of you and your family, that you will not be forgotten,” Cichanoŭskaja said.

Bialacki and Viasna have become strong shoulders to lean on for activists, journalists, and ordinary Belarusians, she said.

Cichanoŭskaja noted that Viasna never denied help to anyone and recalled that Bialacki supported her as her husband, popular blogger Siarhiej Cichanoŭski, who was arrested and sentenced to 18 years in prison on politically-motivated charges.

Bialacki refused to leave Belarus, preferring to help people even though he knew that his arrest was coming, she noted. Only the world’s attention can help release political prisoners, he told Cichanoŭskaja a few weeks before his arrest.

“Let’s put his words into action,” she stressed. “The Nobel Peace Prize gives us a great chance to draw attention to Aleś’ case and to release thousands of political prisoners.”

On December 10, Cichanoŭskaja will attend the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony. Natalla Pinčuk, Bialacki’s wife, will receive the prize for her husband.