Ales Bialiatski, a human rights advocate who won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, is serving a 10-year prison sentence in Belarus and is one of hundreds of its political prisoners.
Kingsland Police Department working to reduce speeding in school zonesCamden County NAACP chapter hosts youth pep rally for MLK DayRead full article: Transform your bedroom with these buttery soft sheets
FILE - Police officers kick a demonstrator during a protest in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 10, 2020, following the disputed presidential election. Bialiatski was arrested in 2021 amid raids by the country's KGB. In March 2023, he was convicted on charges of smuggling and financing actions that “grossly violated public order,” and sentenced to 10 years. Authorities labeled him as especially dangerous because of alleged “extremist” tendencies.He was transferred to the harsh Penal Colony No. 9 in 2023, and Bialiatski’s wife, Natalia Pinchuk, hasn't heard from him since August, she told AP in a December interview.
The government responded by shutting down Viasna’s offices and arresting six prominent members. Four of them -- Valiantsin Stefanovic, Uladzimir Labkovich, Marfa Rabkova, and Andrei Chapiuk -- are serving sentences ranging from five years and nine months to nearly 15 years. He recalled seeing a gaunt Bialiatski spending hours assembling wooden pallets and army ammunition boxes in what he described as “slave labor.”
“Authorities are creating conditions for political prisoners that are akin to torture,” Sudalenka said, adding that he has seen inmates “lose first their sight, then their teeth, then collapse” from exhaustion and mistreatment. Since June 2024, Belarus has freed 227 political prisoners, according to Viasna, most of whom were jailed after the 2020 protests. But Bialiatski and other key opposition figures, like Siarhei Tsikhanouski and Viktar Babaryka, remain behind bars.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya Alexander Lukashenko Ales Bialiatski Oleg Orlov Elections Andrei Chapiuk Ruslan Akostka Natalia Pinchuk Vladimir Putin World News
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
This Year’s Nobel Prizes Are a Warning about AIUnless we pursue AI carefully, the Nobel committee will one day give a Peace Prize to the people cleaning up its terrible consequences, just as it did with nuclear physics
Read more »
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations Holds Press ConferenceRepresentatives of Nihon Hidankyo, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner, attended a press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.
Read more »
Nobel Peace Prize Fuels Nuclear Disarmament Push for Hiroshima & Nagasaki SurvivorsSurvivors of the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, are using the recognition to intensify their call for nuclear disarmament.
Read more »
Nobel Peace Prize Winners Urge Nuclear DisarmamentSurvivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, who were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, have renewed their call for nuclear disarmament.
Read more »
Nobel Peace Prize Winners Push for Nuclear DisarmamentSurvivors of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, are using the recognition to strengthen their campaign for nuclear disarmament.
Read more »
Atomic Bomb Survivors Inspired by Nobel to Push for Nuclear DisarmamentSurvivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, are using the recognition to renew their push for nuclear disarmament as the 80th anniversary of the attacks approaches.
Read more »