1. Nobel Peace Prize for the police prisoner Ales Bialiatski

Ales Bialiatski

is the head and founder of the Viasna Human Rights Center.

He is a political prisoner, since July 14, 2021, Bialiatski, together with fellow human rights activists from "Viasna", has been held behind bars.

Ales devoted his whole life to the protection and promotion of human rights in Belarus.

On October 7, 2022, the Nobel Committee announced that Bialiatsky, together with Russian and Ukrainian human rights organizations, received the Peace Prize.

The Nobel committee explained its choice as follows: "Ales Bialiatski was one of the initiators of the democratic movement that arose in Belarus in the mid-1980s.

He devoted his life to promoting democracy and peaceful development in his country.

Mr. Bialiatski did not give up even an inch in his struggle for human rights and democracy in Belarus."

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in Oslo on December 10.

His wife

Natalia Pinchuk

spoke on behalf of the laureate at the ceremony .

"Now in Belarus, thousands of people are behind bars for political reasons, and they are all my brothers and sisters.

Nothing can stop people's thirst for freedom.

The whole of Belarus is in prison here.

Journalists, political scientists, trade union leaders are sitting, among them are many of my acquaintances and friends... Courts work like a conveyor belt, convicts are transported to colonies, and new waves of police prisoners take their place," Natalya said in a speech on behalf of human rights defender.

2. Belarusian volunteers in Ukraine

With the beginning of the Russian attack on Ukraine, Belarusians announced the creation of volunteer formations for the defense of Ukraine.

In Kiev, a battalion was organized, and then a regiment named after Kastus Kalinowski.

Belarusians also serve in the Pursuit unit and in various Ukrainian formations.

They received state awards of Ukraine.

In 2022, 17 Belarusians were killed in Ukraine fighting for its independence.

These are ten soldiers of the Kalinovsky Regiment and seven from other units fighting in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

It is known about two Belarusian soldiers who were captured by the Russians.

Svaboda has repeatedly written about Belarusian volunteers.

Their relatives who remained in Belarus suffer pressure and repression from the authorities.

Police officers are smashing apartments left by volunteers in Belarus, damaging property.

After the death of the fighter

Pavel "Volat"

in Ukraine , his mother, repressed university teacher

Natalya

Suslava, joined the Belarusian volunteers .

It was part of the "Terror" battalion (

a separate unit, previously it was part of the Kalinovsky regiment. -

RS

).

3. Political prisoners and those awaiting their release

There are thousands of people in Belarusian prisons for political reasons.

"Viasny" human rights activists recognized 1,435 people as political prisoners (other human rights initiatives mention higher numbers).

In fact, their number is much larger.

Many relatives are afraid to talk about their loved ones who were imprisoned.

Political prisoners are kept in prisons and colonies in difficult conditions.

They are pressured, deprived of letters, gifts and appointments, they are often punished with SHIZA or imprisonment.

However, not all of them give up their beliefs even under such pressure.

"It is very nice that they care about me, it gives me strength, convinces me of my rightness and fills me with determination.

And it helps me to make the right decision and not be afraid of anything.

I don't regret anything and I know that the truth is on my side.

I feel calm and confident thanks to the support of people who wish me well and share my values," former university teacher

Natalya Dulina

wrote in a letter to her release .

Not only political prisoners are at risk, but also those waiting for them.

Daria Losik

,

the wife of journalist Svoboda

Ihar Losik

, a prisoner of war, was imprisoned .

Daria defended her husband's rights during the entire time he was behind bars - since the end of June 2020.

On October 18, Daria was detained, now she is in the Brest pre-trial detention center.

Daria Losik was accused of "facilitating extremist activities" for a comment for Belsat TV channel.

The criminal case was transferred to the court.

4. Belarusian volunteers on both sides of the Ukrainian-Polish border

From the first days of the war, Belarusian volunteers have been helping refugees and those who remained in Ukraine.

Human rights defender, director of the public association "Zvyano"

Tatyana Gatsura-Yavorskaya

moved to Ukraine after her arrest and deportation of her husband.

Now she collects funds for medical devices for the wounded and donates them to hospitals.

Together with Zvyan, the Belarusian diaspora in Italy and Belarusians living all over the world are collecting funds for VAC systems.

After the start of the war in Ukraine, Belarusian volunteers created the "Stork" project.

Small artists from Ukraine participate in it.

The children send their creativity to the project organizers, after which the designers manually process the images and then put the images up for sale.

In total, 5,000 Ukrainian children participated in the project and sent 16,000 works.

Ukrainian children were able to earn 15 thousand euros with the help of the project.

All the money earned in this way was transferred directly to the bank account of the parents of these children.

The project itself does not charge a commission and is entirely voluntary.

Many Belarusians personally help Ukrainians who had to flee the war.

One of them is

Olga Adamovich

, who lives in Lublin, Poland.

During the war, Olga hosted several thousand Ukrainians in her home, helped them move and find work in other European countries.

Olga also organized the collection of "hiking" backpacks for Ukrainian children, took care of disabled children.

From March to November 2022, Belarusians opened their "volunteer station" on the border of Ukraine and Poland.

Belarusian

Andrei Kulakov

and his girlfriend

Karolina Terentiyeva

helped refugees at the border.

During this time, Andrei transported about 50,000 refugees on his bus.

His and Karolina's team were on duty day and night at the border and at the station in Przemysl to help Ukrainians.

At the "Medik" border crossing, Belarusians built a tent where refugees could spend the night and receive the necessary assistance.

5. "New Belarus" in the phone

The project "New Belarus" is also called "digital state".

One of the creators of this platform is

Pavel Lieber

.

The platform is "a place where you are always among your own."

All funds and initiatives that support Belarusian men and women are collected here.

Here you can read news, learn about Belarusian services around the world and events.

The creator of the platform said that this is "the way to create a digital country".

"We are building a huge platform on which many layers should intersect - socio-cultural, economic, political.

Now our focus will be precisely on social and cultural ones.

They can be a basis that allows people to gather in a comfortable and safe space," said Paval Lieber.

6. Women's initiatives in various spheres

For 2022, Belarusians have created a number of projects and initiatives.

One of them is "Political Prison".

The project is about Belarusian women who are currently in prison.

The project was created by journalist

Yevheniya Dougaya

and artist

Anna Tatur

.

Authors remind us of the terrible things through delicate portraits of Belarusian women prisoners of war.

According to Yevgenia and Anna, this is done to "make visible our women in the repressive apparatus of the self-proclaimed authorities of Belarus."

More than a thousand subscribers have already signed up for the project.

75 stories of Belarusian women who are in prison for their civil stance have been published.

In 2022, the Women in Tech project was launched, which helps women enter the IT field and make a career.

Now more than 500 participants from Belarus, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia, Germany, the USA and other countries are studying in the project's programs.

The project "Women's club Women Pro in Warsaw" focuses on the realization of women in various directions.

"The goal of our club is to help and support each participant in all her endeavors from all possible angles.

That's why we offer different topics for meetings," says the founder of the club

Maria Moroz

.

7. Famous and unknown heroes who opposed the war

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale aggression in Ukraine, Belarusians have opposed it in various ways.

On February 27, 2022, an anti-war rally was held in Minsk, which resulted in mass arrests.

In February and March, relay cabinets were set on fire on the Belarusian railway.

In this way, the "rail partisans" tried to stop or at least slow down the movement of Russian military equipment.

For setting fire to the relay cabinet, the security forces detained residents of Bobruisk

, Dmitriy Klimov, Yevhenii Minkevich, and Uladzimer Avramtsev

.

Residents of Svetlagorsk, Dzianis Dikun, Dmitriy Savich, and Oleg Mauchanov,

were arrested for other diversions on the railway

.

The security forces detained Vitaly Melnyk

near Barysav, and Sergei Pleshkun and Yury Selvich

in Mazyr .

Siarhei and Kateryna

Hlebki from Stouptsi, railway worker

Siarhei

Kanavalov from Vitebsk were also prosecuted for incidents on the railway

.

Thousands of Belarusians acted secretly, helping the Ukrainian army.

These are the ones who recorded the movement of Russian equipment and sent the data both to independent Belarusian media and to the monitoring project "Belarusian Gayun".

And also those who sent help to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in various ways.

Other 2022 results from Svoboda:

The Belarusian word of 2022 is war

"Political prison", "Visible", "Her expertise".

We talk about the most important women's projects of 2022

Medicine in ruins: War, repression, failure to provide care behind bars, emigration, legalization

Economic results of the year: Belarus has not seen such a drop in GDP since the 1990s

Kazakevich: in 2022, the fate of Belarus will become less dependent on events inside Belarus

"Belarusian diplomacy has become an appendage of war."

Results of the year with Pavel Sliunkin

Record inflation, one and a half thousand political prisoners.

How 2022 went - in one calendar

"It is impossible to distinguish a parody from another "bottoming out"".

Results of the year in the field of human rights from Oleg Gulak