BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

19/12/2006

Belarus opposition chief takes home Sakharov Prize

Alexander Milinkevich has picked up his honour for human rights work, the Sakharov Prize, in the European Parliament. The Belarussian democratic opposition leader accepted it on behalf of all those who have fought to rid their country of authoritarian rule. In March, Milinkevich ran unsuccessfully against incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko, who claimed victory in an election internationally condemned as rigged. The physics scholar-turned-politician comes from a long line of defenders of national freedom. Speaking in his native language, he said: "Soon Belarus will come back into the European family, and will again become a free and democratic state. Dictatorships have no prospects in history; and, as history shows, tyrants come to a sad end. The only real choice under the conditions of a dictatorship is to fight. We simply have no other choice. Thank you for your support. Long live Belarus!" This was to have been broadcast live from Strasbourg but could not be because technicians were protesting against what they said was a wrongful outsourcing of their work.

Source:

http://www.euronews.net/create_html.php?page=europa&article=395719&lng=1