Ales Bialiatski facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ales Bialiatski
|
|
|---|---|
| Алесь Бяляцкі | |
Bialiatski in 2015
|
|
| Born | 25 September 1962 Vyartsilya, Karelian ASSR, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Republic of Karelia, Russia)
|
| Other names | Aliaksandr Bialiatski |
| Education | Gomel State University (BA) |
| Occupation | https://freeales.org/en# |
| Employer | Viasna Human Rights Centre |
| Spouse(s) | Natallia Pinchuk |
| Awards |
|
Ales Viktaravich Bialiatski (Belarusian: Алесь Віктаравіч Бяляцкі, romanized: Aleś Viktaravič Bialacki; born 25 September 1962) is an important activist from Belarus. He works to protect human rights and promote democracy in his country. He is famous for his work with the Viasna Human Rights Centre, an organization he helped create.
Bialiatski has been working for independence and democracy in Belarus since the 1980s. He is a founding member of Viasna and the Belarusian Popular Front. Many people, including The New York Times, call him a key leader in the human rights movement in Eastern Europe.
His efforts to defend human rights have earned him many international awards. In 2020, he received the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes called the "Alternative Nobel Prize". In 2022, Bialiatski was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. He shared this award with two organizations: Memorial and Centre for Civil Liberties.
Ales Bialiatski has been put in prison twice. First, from 2011 to 2014, and again since 2021. He was charged with tax evasion and other crimes. However, many human rights activists believe these charges were made up to stop his important work. On 3 March 2023, he was sentenced to ten years in prison.
Contents
About Ales Bialiatski
Early Life and Education
Ales Bialiatski was born in 1962 in Vyartsilya, which is now part of Russia. His parents were from Belarus. In 1965, his family moved back to Belarus and settled in Svietlahorsk.
He studied Belarusian literature at Francisk Skorina Gomel State University. He graduated in 1984 with a degree in Russian and Belarusian Philology. After college, Bialiatski worked as a schoolteacher. He also served in the army for a year, from 1985 to 1986.
Standing Up for Human Rights
Bialiatski has been a strong voice for human rights in Belarus for a long time.
- He was a leader in the Belarusian Popular Front from 1996 to 2001.
- In 1996, he started the Viasna Human Rights Centre. This organization helps people who are treated unfairly because of their political views.
- In 2003, the government tried to shut down Viasna by canceling its official registration. But Viasna continued its important work without being officially registered.
- Bialiatski also served as vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) from 2007 to 2016.
- He is also a member of the Union of Belarusian Writers and the Belarusian PEN-Centre.
His Arrests and Imprisonment
Ales Bialiatski has faced challenges because of his activism.
- On 4 August 2011, he was arrested. He was accused of not paying enough taxes.
- Bialiatski said he was innocent. He explained that the money he received was used to help Viasna's human rights activities.
- On 24 October 2011, he was sentenced to 4½ years in prison.
- Many people and groups around the world, including the European Union and the United States, said he was a "political prisoner." They believed the charges were unfair and meant to silence him.
- Organizations like Amnesty International called for his immediate release.
- Bialiatski was released from prison on 21 June 2014, after spending 1,052 days in jail.
- The date of his first arrest, 4 August, is now celebrated every year as the International Day of Solidarity with the Civil Society of Belarus.
Second Arrest and Trial
- In 2020, Bialiatski became a member of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition.
- On 14 July 2021, police searched Viasna's offices and the homes of its workers. Bialiatski and his colleagues were arrested again.
- He was charged with tax evasion once more.
- His trial began in January 2023. Human rights groups said the trial was unfair and an act of revenge for his activism.
- On 3 March 2023, Bialiatski was found guilty of smuggling and financing protests. He was sentenced to ten years in prison.
International Recognition
Ales Bialiatski is recognized worldwide for his important work.
- In 2006, he and Viasna won the Homo Homini Award from a Czech organization called People in Need. This award honors people who promote human rights.
- He also won the Swedish Per Anger Prize and the Andrei Sakharov Freedom Award in 2006.
- In 2012, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe gave him its Václav Havel Human Rights Prize. His wife accepted the award for him because he was in prison.
- He also received the Lech Wałęsa Award in 2012 for his work in promoting democracy and human rights in Belarus.
- In 2014, a Swedish group called Civil Rights Defenders named him civil rights defender of the year.
- In 2020, he shared the Right Livelihood Award, known as the "Alternate Nobel Prize."
- In December 2020, he was honored with the Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament.
- He has also been given honorary citizenship by the cities of Genoa (Italy), Paris (France), and Syracuse, Sicily (Italy).
Nobel Peace Prize
- In 2022, Ales Bialiatski was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. He shared it with two organizations: Memorial and Centre for Civil Liberties.
- Before this, he had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times.
- After he won, many people in the Belarusian opposition celebrated. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said the prize was important for all Belarusians fighting for freedom.
Personal Life
Ales Bialiatski is married to Natallia Pinchuk. They met in 1982 when they were students. They got married in 1987 and have a son named Adam. Ales Bialiatski is a Roman Catholic.
When he was in college, Bialiatski played bass guitar in a band. Now, his main hobbies are mushroom hunting and planting flowers. He usually speaks the Belarusian language.
See also
In Spanish: Alés Bialiatski para niños
