Briefly:

• There have been few cases in history when the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to a person who is behind bars.

• The authorities made the trial of well-known human rights defenders demonstrative.

• Destroying the very idea of ​​solidarity, the structures that embody it, is an important task of the regime.

• The trial of the Nobel laureate drew the attention of the international community to political repressions in Belarus.

A high-profile trial began in Minsk.

Public and media attention is drawn to him by the fact that famous people in the country are being tried.

This year's laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize, chairman of the human rights center "Viasna"

, his deputy, vice-president of the International Federation of Human Rights

and coordinator of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections"

.

, who is abroad, is

also being tried in absentia .

To put it simply, they are accused of financially supporting political prisoners, for example, helping to pay fines.

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded since 1901.

There were few cases in history when she was honored by a person who is behind bars.

In 1935, it was awarded to the German journalist

, who was in a fascist prison.

By the way, after that, the Nazis were forced to release the journalist, albeit under the supervision of the special services.

Chinese dissident

was awarded in 2010, when he was in prison, and he was released in 2017, just before his death.

There was another case with the opposition leader of Burma (Myanmar)

.

In 1991, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest.

And she was released only in 2010.

And the Belarusian Ales Bialiatski is now in the same dramatic line.

The authorities made the trial of well-known human rights defenders demonstrative.

It is formally open (although foreign diplomats were not allowed into the hall), unlike other similar processes.

It is actively covered by the state media.

During the preparation of the "case", 120 searches were conducted and 300 volumes of materials were collected.

The trial of the "terrorist group" of Mykolai Autukhovich was just as revealing.

That is, human rights defenders are equated with terrorists.

In any case, the authorities are trying to create such an image for them.

That is why the handcuffs in the cage are not removed.

The trial in the case of Mykola Autukhovich

The regime wants to destroy the human rights movement as an institution.

After all, human rights defenders are not only scrupulous chroniclers of political persecution, who record facts, events, and consider officials involved in repression as victims.

They also embody civil solidarity, demonstrate that political prisoners are not left out of attention, they are known about them, they are supported, partially even financially.

Destroying the very idea of ​​solidarity, the structures that embody it, is an important task of the regime.

Therefore, for example, on September 6, 2022, human rights defenders of the same "Viasna"

to 15 years in prison.

The defendants in this trial face up to 12 years in prison.

Such terms are given for terrorism.

Ales Bialiatski behind bars in court.

Minsk, January 5, 2023

The trial of the Nobel laureate drew the attention of the international community to political repressions in Belarus.

The sacrifice of Ales Bialiatski and his associates helped to return the topic of the Belarusian dictatorship (albeit for a short time) to the top of the world media.

On the main pages of the leading media there are photos from the courtroom.

On this occasion, UN Secretary General

stated "a very alarming development of events and another example of the narrowing of space that we observe in many countries for human rights defenders."

In a certain sense, this trial of the Nobel laureate puts the Belarusian political regime in an awkward position.

Additional attention of the world community is drawn to political prisoners in Belarus.

But it doesn't really work out to release the "springmen" either: suddenly they will think that Lukashenka was afraid of the moral pressure of the world community.

And on the other hand, Lukashenka captured a very important police prisoner.

For him, it is a valuable commodity for which a large ransom can be demanded from the West.

The opinions expressed in the blogs represent the views of the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect the position of the editors.

Who is Ales Bialiatski

Belarusian human rights defender, public figure, literary critic.

The founder and head of the human rights center "Viasna", a political prisoner.

• He was born on September 25, 1962 in the urban settlement of Vartsil in the Karelian ASSR, where his Belarusian parents worked at the time.

  In 1965, the family returned to Belarus, to Svetlagorsk.

• In 1984, Ales graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of the Gomel University, worked as a teacher in the Lelchytsky District.

• He served in the Soviet army in the Sverdlovsk region of the Russian Federation as a mechanic-driver of an armored tractor.

• In 1986–1989, he was the founder of the Association of Young Writers "Tuteyshiya".

• In 1989, he graduated from the Institute of Literature of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

• From 1989 to 1998, he worked as the director of the Maxim Bogdanovich Literary Museum.

• In 1991–1996, he was a deputy of the Minsk City Council of Deputies.

• In 1996, he founded the human rights organization "Viasna"

• On August 4, 2011, he was detained - he was accused of "tax evasion".

  On November 23, he was sentenced to 4.5 years of imprisonment in a penal colony with confiscation of property.

• In 2012, the Radio Svaboda Library published Valer Kalinowski's book "The Bialiatski Affair".

• On June 21, 2014, he was released early from the Bobrui colony.

• During his 25 years of activity, he was awarded numerous prizes and awards: the Swedish Per Anger Prize, the Andrei Sakharov Freedom Prize, the Homo Homini Prize, presented by Vaclav Havel, the Norwegian Writers' Union Prize "For Freedom of Speech", the US State Department Prize, the Lech Walesa Prize , the Petra Kelly Award, the Vaclav Havel Award from PARE, the "For Human Rights and the Rule of Law" award, and others.

• He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times.

• Ales is the author of the books "Jogs along the shore of Lake Geneva", "Enlightened by Belarus", "Cold wing of the homeland", "Mercury silver of life", "Fight with yourself", "Prison notebooks" (Minsk, 2018, "Spring").

• On July 14, 2021, he was detained on a criminal charge, his home and the Viasna office were searched.

• Now he is in pre-trial detention center No. 1 - on "Voladarka" - together with his colleagues: human rights defenders Valyantsin Stefanovych and Vladimir Labkovich.

• In total, he was prosecuted more than 20 times for his active social and human rights activities.

  Recognized as a political prisoner.

• On October 7, 2022, Ales Bialiatsky was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

• Valer Karbalevich

  He was born in 1955.

  Graduated from the history faculty of BSU, candidate of historical sciences, associate professor.

  Radio Svaboda political commentator.

  
  
  

  karbalevich@gmail.com

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