Dissident says Nobel Prize 'saved' him

VILNIUS:

Hours after being freed from a Belarusian prison under a US deal, dissident Ales Bialiatski vowed to continue his fight for democracy from exile and told AFP his Nobel Peace Prize saved him from the worst treatment in prison.

Imprisoned in 2021 and kept largely in isolation since 2023, Bialiatski also called on the EU to enter talks with the Minsk regime to free hundreds of other political prisoners.

Bialiatski -- who spent decades documenting rights abuses in Belarus and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 while in custody — spoke to AFP in an exclusive interview on Sunday in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius following his transfer there after his release.

A day earlier, the 63-year-old was woken up in prison at 4:00 am, with security services bandaging his eyes and driving him across the country to the Lithuanian border.

He was one of more than 120 political prisoners freed under the deal.

The Nobel prize — which he said he shares with the whole of Belarusian civil society — served as some protection for him in prison.

"Although I went through all the difficulties that Belarusian political prisoners go through — isolation cells and constant humiliation... the prize saved me from much worse unpleasant things that other colleagues went through," he said.