Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski speaks after he and the Belarusian human rights organization Vjasna were awarded the 2020 Right Livelihood Award during the 2020 awarding ceremony in Stockholm on Dec.
3, 2020. (Photo by ANDERS WIKLUND OSLO, Norway - This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to jailed Belarus rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian group Memorial and the Ukrainian organization Center for Civil Liberties, a strong rebuke to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on his 70th birthday.Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the panel wanted to honor "three outstanding champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence in the neighbor countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.""Through their consistent efforts in favor of human values and anti-militarism and principles of law, this year’s laureates have revitalized and honored Alfred Nobel’s vision of peace and fraternity between nations, a vision most needed in the world today," she told reporters in Oslo.Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, speaks during a press conference to announce the winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, on Oct.
7, 2022. (Photo by HEIKO JUNGE/NTB/AFP via Getty I Bialiatski was one of the leaders of the democracy movement in Belarus in the mid 1980s and has continued to campaign for human rights and civil liberties in the authoritarian country.
He founded the non-governmental organization Human Rights Center Viasna and won the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes referred to as the "Alternative Nobel," in 2020.Bialiatski was detained following protests that year against the re-election of Belarus' President Alexander.