Rally In Support Of Ales Bialiatski In Berlin

The Nobel laureate celebrates his 61st birthday in prison.

On Monday 25 September, the international human rights organisations Amnesty International and Libereco, as well as the association of Belarusians in Germany, Razam, organised a rally in support of Ales Beliatski at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. On this day, the imprisoned Belarusian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski celebrates his 61st birthday. The event was attended by members of the German parliament from the Friends of Belarus group, as well as former political prisoners.

"A cross-section of Belarusian society sits in Belarusian prisons: doctors, lawyers, workers, teachers and others. Just because they wanted peaceful change," said Johannes Schraps, a member of parliament from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDPG). He also recalled some 1.5 thousand Belarusians who, like Ales Beliatski, sought freedom for which they are now languishing in harsh conditions in Belarusian prisons.

The founder of the Human Rights Centre Viasna, Ales Beliatski, has been in prison since 14 July 2021. In March 2023, a Belarusian court sentenced him to 10 years' imprisonment on charges of smuggling and organising a breach of public order. In 2022, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded him the Peace Prize, along with human rights defenders from Ukraine and Russia.