ales bialiatski – civil rights defender of the year
CIVIL
RIGHTS
DEFENDER
OF THE
YEAR
Ales Bialiatski
• Chairman of the organisation Human Rights
Centre Viasna in Belarus.
•
Vice President of the International Federation for
Human Rights (FIDH).
•
Winner of the first Vaclav Havel Prize awarded
by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe (PACE) in partnership with the Vaclav
Havel Library in Prague and the Czech Charter 77
Foundation.
•
Currently serving a 4 ½ year prison sentence for tax
evasion in a politically motivated trial.
•
Married to Natalia Pinchuk and a father of one
son, Adam.
Spanning three decades, Ales Bialiatski has pursued a
monumental struggle to uphold democratic principles and human rights, first in the former Soviet
Union and then in Belarus – often described as
Europe’s last dictatorship.
tax evasion because the regime refuses to acknow
ledge Viasna as a legal organisation.
Ales Bialiatski, founder of human rights organisation Viasna, was arrested on 4 August 2011 and in
November that same year he was sentenced to 4 ½
years in prison for tax evasion in a politically motivated trial. He remains isolated and unable to communicate freely with the outside world.
– Very difficult, The state controls virtually every
thing and civil society groups together with ordinary citizens are living under immense pressure.
Anyone who expresses an opinion or works in what
is perceived as being against the regime is in very
real danger of being fired from his or her job without any explanation. So people are intimidated into
silence. We ourselves are subject to strict censorship; our own website is blocked so universities and
public companies cannot access it. Meanwhile, the
dramatic developments in Ukraine have led to increased tension here too. The KGB and the police
are on their toes, paranoid and reactionary and
there have been lots of arrests of innocent people.
Valiantsin Stefanovitj, Vice President of Viasna,
says that the organisation’s work is inspired by Ales
Bialiatski’s unbreakable spirit:
“It is important for Ales to receive this recognition.
He is a strong and at the same time a very warm
person who is truly passionate when it comes to
fighting for democracy and human rights.”
What does this award mean to Ales
and Viasna?
A great deal. The support received from the outside world strengthens Ales and all of us who work
in Viasna and makes us determined to continue the
struggle for a democratic and free Belarus. It is only
with outside pressure that we can hope to bring
about a change in this country. It was a pleasure to
write to Ales and tell him about the prize. Unfortunately I do not know if the letter arrived, we have
not yet received a response.
What do you know about Ales’ situation
in prison?
Not much, he is largely isolated from the outside
world. His wife Natalia got to visit him just twice
during the whole of last year. His calls are monitored and conducted through a glass partition. The
letters that Ales writes are very general, nothing
specific. What we do know is that the situation is
difficult in Belarusian prisons, torture and other
abuses are also common.
How is Viasna treated by Aleksandr
Lukashenka’s regime?
– Very bad. Just watch the chronology of events that
happened to Ales. He was thrown in prison as punishment for his fight for human rights, on charges of
10
How would you describe the situation
regarding the struggle for democracy in
Belarus today?
What can the outside world do to help
Ales and all others who are fighting for
freedom and democracy in Belarus?
– Continue to exert pressure on the regime to get
Ales and all the other political prisoners released
from prison. Today there are eleven people in Bela
rusian prisons, convicted on political grounds and
that is totally unacceptable. At the same time, we
feel that support from Moscow for the Belarusian
regime has become even stronger in recent times.
There is a nervous mood here and we hope that the
EU will increase pressure on Lukashen