Imprisoned human rights defender Ales Bialiatski is the first to receive this prestigious human rights award from the Council of Europe.
Founder of Viasna Human Rights Centre, Ales has dedicated the past twenty years to the defence of human rights not only in Belarus but also abroad. The 38th FIDH Congress which was held in May 2013 in Istanbul demonstrated its support and faith in Ales and re-elected him Vice President of FIDH.
« This prize is particularly symbolic for Ales » explains Valiantsin Stefanovic, vice-president of Viasna. « Vaclav Havel and Ales had met previously, and a few days before he died, Václav Havel wrote Ales a letter in prison. In it, he expressed his support and the hope that Belarus would one day be a democratic state ».