English

Ales Byalyatski shortlisted for Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize

Imprisoned human rights defender Ales Byalyatski has been shortlisted for the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize.

The two other candidates for the award, which was instituted by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) earlier this year, are the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (Georgia) and the Rights Defense Network (China).

The selection panel, comprising six independent figures and chaired by PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon, drew up its shortlist on the basis of 27 candidatures which fulfilled the criteria for the Prize.

"A reaction is needed when human rights are under threat, and this is what we do. But it is also necessary to encourage and place the spotlight on those who commit themselves to human rights, and this is something we perhaps do a little less. This is what the Prize does," said Jean-Claude Mignon when he announced the outcome of the voting.

The winner will be named by the panel on September 29 and officially announced the following day, the first day of PACE's fall session.

The Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize, which aims to reward outstanding civil society action in the defense of human rights in Europe and beyond, is awarded by PACE in partnership with the Vaclav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation, and comes with a €60,000 prize.

Ales Byalyatski, chairman of a human rights organization called Vyasna (Spring) who is vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights, was arrested in Minsk on August 4, 2011.

On November 24, 2011, he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on a charge of large-scale tax evasion. The charge stemmed from information about his bank accounts abroad, which was thoughtlessly provided by authorities in Lithuania and Poland under interstate legal assistance agreements. During his trial, Mr. Byalyatski insisted that the money transferred by various foundations to his bank accounts abroad had been intended to finance Vyasna’s activities and therefore could not be viewed as his income subject to taxation. //BelaPAN