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“It is an honor to announce that the women and men of the democratic opposition in Belarus are the winners of the 2020 Sakharov Prize,” European Parliament President David Sassoli said on Twitter.
“There is something on his side that cruel force can never defeat: the truth. Don’t give up on your fight. We are by your side, “he added.
The Belarusian opposition is considered to be the initiator of the Coordination Council: S. Cichanouskaya, former candidate in the presidential elections in Belarus, writer, Nobel Prize Winner for Literature Sviatlana Alexeyevich, activists Maryja Kalesnikava, Volha Kavalkusova, Veranika Capkala, Siarhei Cichanouskis
Belarus’ opposition was supported by the largest groups in the EP: the European People’s Party (EPP), the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and Renew Europe.
The EP election is likely to be rejected by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who strongly supports his Belarusian counterpart, Aliaksandr Lukashenko, who is not recognized by the West. Russia has condemned the decision to award the award last year to jailed Ukrainian director Oleh Sencov.
Belarus continues to face unprecedented protests following Lukashenko’s presidential elections in August.
Every Sunday, tens of thousands of Belarusians, despite the threat of arrest and combat bullets, take to the streets to oppose the longest-serving European leader.
Waving white-red-white flags, they march peacefully, despite the mobilization of abundant militiamen, violence, water cannons and deafening grenades.
Cichanouskaya, who was granted asylum in Lithuania after the vote, asked Lukashenko to resign before October 25, warning that he would otherwise face a crippling general strike.
Double edged sword
The protest movement is largely unrelated to traditional political life, led by women and youth who do not remember the Soviet era.
Almost everyone associated with Ms Cichanouskaya, members of the Coordination Council created by the opposition to initiate the transfer of power, are imprisoned, arrested or forced to leave the country.
Lukashenko, backed by Putin, categorically refuses to make major concessions and has vowed to carry out elegant constitutional reform to end the political crisis. He also tried to engage in a demonstration dialogue with opponents by visiting them in jail.
At the time, Cichanouskaya had secured the support of one of the most important figures in the EU, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Still, European support for the Belarusian opposition is a double-edged sword, as Moscow and Minsk constantly accuse the West of sounding off various conspiracies.
This year’s nominee for the Sakharov Prize was Najeeb Moussa Michaelis, Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, who helped save Christians from the Islamic State (IS) and preserved thousands of ancient manuscripts and documents of Eastern Christian culture and environmental activists from Honduras. .
The European Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought every year to people who have made a significant contribution to the fight for human freedoms.
The Sakharov Prize will be awarded at the EP plenary session on 16 December.
Sakharov Prize 2019 with 50 thousand. The award was awarded to Ilham Tohti, a Chinese Uighur scientist and human rights activist who has been sentenced to life in prison for “separatism” in China.
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