DispatchesJURIST Belarus correspondent Ulyana Belaya is a student in the International Law and European Union Law program at the European Humanities University, Vilnius, Lithuania. She left Belarus in September 2021. The text of this dispatch has been lightly edited to preserve the author’s voice.
As a Belarusian, let me tell you about the legal situation in Belarus and explain how much has happened here because of Alies Bialatski, the Belarusian who last week was awarded a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
Recently Alies turned 60 years old. For 40 years he has been defending human rights. His personal path to defending freedoms and rights was direct: Alies started as a poet, writer and musician. He studied Philology, played in a music band, and published some pieces of poetry. He also became one of the creators of a Belarusian language fellowship, which has supported many Belarusian artists. In 1988, Alies together with his artistic and Belarusian-oriented community of colleagues decided to celebrate traditional Belarusian festival “Dziady”. “Dziady” is a day of family commemoration in Belarusian culture, and in 1988 it was a requiem demonstration. Participants who wanted to express their devotion to Belarusian culture and our past went to Kurapaty. Kurapaty is a forest near the capital, Minsk, where Soviet soldiers shot to death at least 100.000 people in the 1930s. Those who came there in 1988, wanting to commemorate and express their pity, were repressed as well. Authorities used tear gases and beat peaceful civilians. Not only was Alies beaten by the police, but he also saw the level of the violence used against defenceless people. That awful episode inspired him to start his activities in defence of human rights.
In 1990 Belarus gained its independence from the Soviet Union, and in 1994 the first presidential elections were held. At the time of these elections Alies was a member of the Minsk city council. He was promoting Belarusian language that had been banned by the former USSR. He also joined the protests against the new president Lukashenka both in 1994 and 1996. 1996 was the year of the first massive protests in the sovereign Republic of Belarus. Also, it was the year when Alies Bialitski founded the human rights centre “Viasna” (literally translated as “Spring”).
“Viasna” has been helping people since then in many ways, assisting them legally, psychologically, financially and educationally. The centre is no longer officially registered in Belarus (the UN Human Rights Committee considered the withdrawal of registration to be a violation of article 22 of the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights; nevertheless, the government refused to follow the decision of the Committee, which is a usual practice of Belarusian regime). Still, it continues functioning. Volunteers and practicing attorneys take part in its activities as well as other parts of civil society.
Unfortunately, Alies hasn’t been able to take part in the centre’s work personally since July 14th 2021. While he was clearly opposing the bloodthirsty regime, he was waiting to be arrested. Despite having opportunities to escape, he kept working in the country as long as possible. His decision has been unexplainable for loads of people. However, we see today that his sacrifice matters. Thanks to the years of his work and to the year and a half of his arrest the world spoke about Belarus and our crisis, at least for a moment.
At the same time not everyone in the world welcomed the three-way Nobel Peace prize awarded to Bialatski, the Ukrainian organisation “Centre for Civil Rights”, and the Russian organisation “Memorial” that does not exist any more. Many Ukrainian celebrities were outraged by the other winners, since they thought it undervalued the fight of the Ukrainians. That provoked some scandals in the mass media.
With respect to all these opinions, I must say this. I am an 18 years old Belarusian law student. I am proud, and I am grateful to Alies Bialatski. Due to his effort, Belarusian civic society is still able to express its opinion (which is, obviously, anti-war) and its members are still able to help each other. Due to his effort, the free legal education I am receiving right now in Lithuania is still possible. And due to his defence of human rights, and even his imprisonment, the world cares about Belarus.
