Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, still cannot collect the monetary part of the award. European banks are not opening an account for him, he said in an interview with Deutsche Welle (DW). This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
“The most interesting thing is that I haven’t spent anything yet, because I don’t have an account yet. I can’t take this money yet because I don’t have an account. Like almost all Belarusian emigrants, I face the same problems,” Bialiatski said.
The human rights defender did not specify why he cannot open a bank account. Among possible reasons, the SOTA Telegram channel cites sanctions restrictions or problems with documents. In particular, Belarusians living abroad can no longer renew their passports at consulates – to do so, they must return to Belarus.
In 2022, the Nobel Peace Prize was shared among three human rights organizations: the Belarusian center “Viasna,” the Ukrainian “Center for Civil Liberties,” and the Russian “Memorial.” Each of them received approximately 330 thousand euros.
Bialiatski plans to direct part of his share to supporting young people from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where human rights are violated. He intends to use the rest of the money for personal needs.
Currently, the human rights defender lives in Oslo with his wife. She received the prize on his behalf because Bialiatski was in detention at the time. His wife remained in Norway, as returning to Belarus was dangerous for her.
Bialiatski also said that over time he plans to leave the post of head of “Viasna” and focus on developing his own foundation.