Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya holds a picture of Belarusian opposition activist Nina Baginskaya as she gives a speech during the Sakharov Prize ceremony at the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday. Belarusian opposition politicians are applauded as they hold their prizes during the Sakharov Prize ceremony at the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday. We ask Europe and the whole world to stand with Belarus,” Tsikhanouskaya told lawmakers in Brussels as she collected the Sakharov Prize, which was awarded by the European Parliament to the Belarus opposition in October. Holding aloft photographs of Belarusians who have rallied against authoritarian Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, protesters who often been detained and beaten by security forces, she dedicated the award to them. “Standing for democracy and human rights is not interference, but it is duty of each self-respecting country,” she told EU lawmakers, speaking in English.

Source: The Standard December 16, 2020 15:44 UTC