Update on December 15, 2025: Despite initial reports of his release, Viasna member Valiantsin Stefanovich remains behind bars. We call for his immediate release along with fellow Viasna member Marfa Rabkova and many other political prisoners in Belarus.
STOCKHOLM – Right Livelihood welcomes the release of 2020 Right Livelihood Laureate Ales Bialiatski and two of his colleagues from Human Rights Center “Viasna”, which is a long-overdue moment of justice. His imprisonment in July 2021 was illegal and politically motivated. We renew our urgent call for the immediate release of Viasna member Marfa Rabkova and all others imprisoned for exercising their fundamental rights in Belarus.
“Ales Bialiatski should never have been behind bars,” said Right Livelihood Executive Director Ole von Uexkull. “His detention was unlawful from the start, designed to silence peaceful human rights work. While we welcome his release, justice will only be served when every one of his colleagues is free and Belarusians can choose their leaders in genuinely democratic elections.”
Right Livelihood has consistently called for the release of Ales Bialiatski and other Viasna members since their imprisonment, including through the #FreeViasna campaign. Throughout this period, the organisation has documented and denounced the systematic repression of civil society in Belarus and the misuse of the justice system to punish human rights defenders.
Bialiatski and his colleagues’ release underscores the power of sustained international solidarity, but it does not mark the end of the struggle. One Viasna colleague and many other political prisoners remain unjustly detained, and the conditions that enabled their persecution persist.
Together with Viasna and local human rights organisations, Right Livelihood continues to demand:
- the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Belarus;
- an end to the criminalisation of human rights work;
- accountability for illegal detentions and abuses; and
- free, fair, and democratic elections in Belarus.
“The world must continue to watch the situation in Belarus closely,” von Uexkull added. “We will keep standing with Belarusian human rights defenders until freedom, dignity, and democracy are restored.”
