Ales Bialiatski was imprisoned from 2011 to 2014 and returned to prison after large demonstrations against the regime in 2020. He is still detained without trial. “Despite enormous personal difficulties, Bialiatski did not give up an inch in his fight for human rights and democracy in Belarus”, according to a press release announcing the award. “The Nobel Prize committee wanted to honor three champions of Human Rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence in neighboring countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.”
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The human rights organization Memorial was created in 1987 by human rights activists in the former Soviet Union to ensure that victims of the communist regime's oppression were never forgotten. “Memorial is based on the notion that confronting past crimes is essential to preventing new ones,” according to the note released by the committee.
The Center for Civil Liberties was founded in 2007 with the aim of promoting human rights and democracy in Ukraine. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Center committed to identifying and documenting Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population.
Source: Nobel Prize
