-Sad to receive the Sakharov Award, says Ales Bialiatski

Last month, the news broke that the Norwegian Helsinki Committee had awarded Ales Bialiatski, right, of the banned Belarusian Human Rights Centre Viasna the Andrej Sakharov Award for 2006. On the eve of his arrival to Oslo to receive the prize, Bialiatski says: -This is a sad award because it relates to the situation in Belarus. We would rather not have awards for our efforts for human rights. (13-FEB-06)

This article is based on Viasna´s own coverage on the award to Bialiatski. The story has been edited for republication here by HRH / Niels Jacob Harbitz. Photos of Bialiatski: HRH / Baard brinchmann Løvvig.

In the press release of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, it says that “Alies Bialiatski is the founder of Human Rights Center Viasna. The activities of HRC Viasna helped Viasna to be nominated among the other public organizations and the opposition movement”.

The Award has Sakharov´s approval 
The release also says that Viasna has been one of the organizations that provide real assistance to the victims of human rights violations in Belarus. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee further emphasizes that Viasna is a public source of information about human rights in Belarus and the source of information about human rights, political relations, and civil society information in Belarus for international society. The Andrej Sakharov award was established in 1980 and was approved of by the Nobel Laureate himself.
    

-We would rather not have such prizes
The complimentary address of Norwegian Helsinki Committee finally says: We award the prize in recognition of the work that Viasna has been doing for several years. We also hope that the prize will draw attention to the current situation in Belarus. Among those who received the prize are Siarhei Kavaliou (Russia), Human Rights Foundation (Turkey), and Charter 77(Czechia). Alies Bialiatsky own comments were: -On the one hand, this prize is the evidence of achievement of the Belarusian human rights movement that consistently defends principles of democracy and human rights in the complicated situation in Belarus. On the other hand, this prize is really sad. It is the evidence of deep concern of the international society over the consistently violated human right in Belarus. An award is a sad event because it is connected with the situation in our country, and we would rather avoid receiving such prizes.