The award ceremony took place on 7 December. This year the nominations were as follows: Personality, Human Rights Defender of the Year and Human Rights Journalist.

By tradition, the award was presented by the winners of previous years. The chairman of the Human Rights Centre “Viasna” Ales Bialiatski congratulated Valery Shchukin, the winner in the nomination “Personality”, on the award. The journalist of Radio “Liberty” Alena Pankratava presented the diploma and white-red-white flowers to the “Euroradio” jounalist Zmitser Lukashuk, who won the “Human Rights Journalist” nomination, and the head of “Human Rights Alliance” Liudmila Graznova presented the award of the “Human Rights Defender” to Valiantsin Stefanovich.

In his speech after receiving the award, the deputy chair Valiantsin Stefanovich said that he “would like to dedicate this award to the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, because “much of what has been done in the field of human rights protection would not be possible without our team, where I have worked for 17 years already. On our way we saw different things, we existed in different capacities, both as a registered organization and without any registration. The authorities treated us differently, but the most difficult times that I remember were in 2011, when our chairman Ales Bialiatski was arrested and put in prison. I know for sure that despite the authorities pretending that we do not exist or exist somewhere underground, they still listen to what we say. I know they read what we write, and I know that they do what we demand, the latest example – the release of political prisoners.

I would also like to dedicate this award to Marek Nowicki, who is not with us anymore. This is the man who shaped me as a human rights defender, as our universities do not teach human rights, and it’s completely different understanding. Marek Nowicki has formed the backbone of the human rights movement not only in Belarus, but defined it the way we have been guided in our daily work”.

The human rights defender Liudmila Griaznova, who hosted the ceremony, said: “The state has a lot of awards. We are glad that now civil society has the opportunity to honor the people, who stand out for their activities in various areas.”

The Human Rights Prize for achievements in the field of human rights was established in 2008 by “Human Rights Alliance” (The first winners were the human rights defender Barys Zvozskau, the lawyer Tamara Sidarenka, the journalist Siamion Pechanka) 

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