Mandatory Credit: Photo by Yauhen Yerchak/SOPA Images/Shutterstock (14740309f)
A protester holds a poster of Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski during a solidarity demonstration in Vilnius. Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski turned 62 on September 25. He has been in Belarusian prison since July 2021, and in the last year, after being sentenced to 10 years and transferred to a penal colony, he has been incommunicado. There is no contact with him, letters from him do not arrive, and lawyers are not allowed to see him. According to human rights activists, today it is impossible to even say with certainty that Bialiatski is alive - the latest information that his health has deteriorated was received last summer. Many other well-known Belarusian political prisoners - Maria Kolesnikova, Maksim Znak, Viktor and Eduard Babaryka, and others - are in the same situation; relatives and human rights activists have had no information about them for years.
Solidarity Demonstration in support of Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski in Vilnius, Lithuania - 25 Sept 2024