Václav Havel Human Rights Prize 2013

The Belarusian writer Ales Bialiatski has been involved in the national democratic movement since the early 1980s. Later, he organized the first demonstrations against totalitarianism. This activity resulted in his imprisonment in 1988, the beginning of a long series of arrests and intimidation. In 2021, Bialiatski was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On July 14, 2021, the Belarusian police raided the headquarters of several NGOs and the homes of their leaders, and several of them were arrested; some of them were released after a few days, but not Ales Bialiatski, who is still in prison.