The Belarusian activists Maryja Kalesnikawa, Svetlana Tichanowskaja and Weranika Zepkala were awarded the International Charlemagne Prize in Aachen this year for their services to European unity. The Board of Directors of the Charlemagne Prize Society thus honored “the three leading figures of the Belarusian democratic movement”.
In her laudatory speech, the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock described the award winners as “the most courageous women in Europe”. 40-year-old Kalesnikawa is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence for protesting against the regime of ruler Alexander Lukashenko, while 39-year-old Tichanovskaya and 45-year-old Zepkala are in exile.
Tichanowskaja and Zepkala were present at the award ceremony in Aachen, Kalesnikova’s sister accepted the award. “You are a role model for millions of women around the world,” said Baerbock. “Your courage cannot be locked away. The idea of freedom cannot be driven into exile. That is the message of this year’s Karls-Prize”, stressed the minister. “And it is a reminder to us: because warm words are not enough.”
The governments in Belarus, which is an ally of Russia, but also in Moscow, “acted with inhuman cynicism against everything that makes us who we are in Europe, everything you three are fighting for: peace, freedom, democracy and human rights,” said Baerbock, adding : “We stand by your side. We hear you. And we haven’t forgotten you.”