Ales Bialiatski
In 2014 Ales Bialiatski was nominated as a finalist for the 2014 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk.
Ales Bialiatski, founder of the Belarusian human rights organisation Viasna, is the recipient of the 2014 Civil Rights Defender of the Year Award.
Imprisoned Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski has been chosen as the inaugural winner of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize. The prize was established this year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and aims to 'encourage and place the spotlight on those who commit themselves to human rights' according to the President of the PACE Jean-Claude Mignon.
I am free, but we must remember, that there are political prisoners in the country. As long as there are political prisoners in Belarus, there can be no serious talk about improving relations.
On 24 November 2011, Ales Bialiatski was sentenced to four and a half years strict regime detention and confiscation of his properties, charged with tax evasion. On 21 June 2014, Ales has been released on amnesty after having spent almost 3 years in prison. He had been detained on 4 August 2011, following a targeted campaign because of his human rights work. Ales is President of the Human Rights Centre “Viasna” and FIDH Vice President.
After the wave of violence that followed the presidential election of December 2010, the human rights situation in Belarus deteriorated rapidly and remains poor after the crackdown. Human rights defenders (HRDs) are subjected to intimidation and harassment, including judicial harassment, restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly, movement, arbitrary detention and ill-treatment.
