Ales Bialiatski Awarded With Golden Laurel 2023 Award

The Viasna human rights activist received the award for the political prisoner.

Human rights activist and political prisoner Ales Bialiatski won the Golden Laurel award in the “Person of the Year” category. The award ceremony took place on September 19 in Warsaw, the Viasna HRC reports.

The Golden Laurel Award has 9 categories in a variety of fields and is awarded to individuals, institutions and companies for their excellent social and cultural activities.

Political prisoner human rights activist Ales Bialiatski became the winner in the “Person of the Year” category. He was sentenced by the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka to 10 years in prison.

According to the organizers, the prize is awarded to Ales Bialiatski “for his unwavering and uncompromising struggle for freedom, democracy and civil rights in Belarus, as well as for many years of efforts to build a civil society with the right to criticize the authorities, the opportunity to protest and express personal opinion.”

Viasna human rights activist Alena Laptenak received the award for Ales Bialiatski.