Yet it was the organization's work documenting human rights abuses in the new Russia that put Memorial increasingly at odds with Vladimir Putin's Kremlin. The human rights group 'Memorial' emerged out of a push for new freedoms in the late Soviet era.įounded by Nobel laureate and human rights campaigner Andrei Sakharov, Memorial initially sought to document Stalinist-era repressions and preserve the memory and experiences of the millions of Soviets who vanished in the labor camps known as the gulag.
It is about reforming an entire society."ĪFP via Getty Images Russian human rights campaigner and Memorial member Svetlana Gannushkina speaks during an AFP interview in Moscow in March. "This movement is not about political change. "Ales Biliaski defined how Belarus should develop in the future," Siarhei Kastrama, a Belarusian activist based in Prague told NPR. Other Belarusian activists described Bialiaski as a tireless campaigner for democratic rights. My first thought was, finally!'' added Satsunkevich.
"He was a five-time nominee and now a winner. or receive a telegram," says Viasna's Natallia Satsunkevich in an interview with NPR. "I think he will learn through some informal channel or meet his lawyer some day. Indeed, Bialiatski's colleagues admitted they weren't entirely sure if Bialiatski was aware of receiving the Nobel, given his confinement. Bialiatski has been in and out of prison and is currently in prison on what many believe are trumped-up charges of tax evasion - charges for which he never faced trial. "He has devoted his life to promoting democracy and peaceful development in his home country," said Reiss-Andsersen in awarding the prize.īialiatski has been persecuted for years by the regime of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who's been in power since 1994. Since then, the Viasna Human Rights Centre - the word viasna means "spring" in Belarusian - has become the country's leading civil society organization through documenting human rights abuses and monitoring elections. Bialiatski has led a 30-year campaign for democracy and freedom, first under the former Soviet Republic and, since 1996, as founder of a human rights center to help political prisoners in the country's capital of Minsk. "'We are pro-democracy and human rights,' " is Nobel's message, added Liik.īialiatski is one of the early founders of the democracy movement in Belarus, starting in the 1980s, and one of the country's most well-known human rights activists. "I think the message is clear: 'We are not pro- or anti-country,' " says Kadri Liik, a Russia and Eastern Europe expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, in assessing the Nobel committee's choice. Observers said the Nobel Committee's decision reflected a sense that Europe's future was at stake in a region that has seen a rise in authoritarianism but could one day see democratic change. Gorbachev later became a founder of Novaya Gazeta. Last year, Dmitry Muratov, the editor of Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper known for its critical stance on the Kremlin, shared the prize with journalist Maria Rezza of the Phillippines.įormer Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died earlier this year, also won the award, in 1990, for "the leading role he played in the radical changes in East-West relations" and "greater openness" he brought to Soviet society. The prize marks the second year in a row the Nobel committee has turned its attention on the region. The leaders of both Russia and Belarus have suppressed democratic movements at home through a growing web of repressions. Belarus has sided with Russia in the conflict - even allowing Moscow to stage its forces on its territory. Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year and has attempted to annex whole regions from its neighbor. The recipients all come from a region still grappling with the legacy of the collapse of the Soviet Union, growing political repression, and the consequences of Russia's war in Ukraine. The awards were named on Friday by Berit Reiss-Andsersen, chairperson of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and came as war rages in Eastern Europe. BERLIN, MOSCOW, KYIV - This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, as well as two human rights organizations, Memorial in Russia and the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine.
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