Today PM Mateusz Morawiecki and FM Zbigniew Rau met with Natallia Pinchuk. She is the wife of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski. He received it for his long-term activity for human rights in Belarus.
In 2012, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe awarded him its Václav Havel Human Rights Prize for his work as a human rights defender, “so that the citizens of Belarus may one day aspire to our European standards”. As he was detained at the time, the award was received on his behalf by his wife. After his release, he visited Strasbourg to thank the Assembly for its support.He was also awarded the Lech Wałęsa Award for “democratisation of the Republic of Belarus, his active promotion of human rights and aid provided for persons currently persecuted by Belarusian authorities” that year, as well as, together with Uganda’s Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law, the 2011 Human Rights Defenders Award by the United States Department of State.
As he was still imprisoned at the time of the Ales Bialiatski was awarded the prize in absentia, and the award was passed to his wife, Natallia Pinchuk, in the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland on 25 September 2012.
“We are continuing our efforts to free Ales Bialiatski.“
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also met on Tuesday with Natallia Pinchuk.
“We must continue to support the democratic opposition in Belarus, this is required by Poland’s raison d’état and human decency.”,
declared the Prime Minister.