The statuette was presented to the NaviBand musicians Ksenia Zhuk and Arciom Lukyanenka by the national leader of Belarus Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. On October 3, after a five-year break, the honorary ceremony of awarding the Vasil Bykau Award “For Freedom of Thought” was held at the Belarusian House in Warsaw.
The chancellor of the Free Belarusian University, Aleksandr Milinkevich, said during the ceremony that in 2006 he received the Andrei Sakharov Award of the European Parliament “For Freedom of Thought”. And he decided to establish the same national award in Belarus — “for those who uncompromisingly defend freedom.”
Chairman of the Belarusian Council of Culture Siarhey Budkin announced the new winners of the award – the NaviBand group. The winners were chosen by all previous award winners.
The laureates Ksenia Zhuk and Arciom Lukyanenka were awarded by the democratic leader of Belarus Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
“Everyone has their own path to Belarus. But we have one goal. And if everything Belarusian in the country is destroyed in favor of the “russian world”, it is very important to preserve the national culture. One winner of the prize “For Freedom of Thought”, the artist Ales Pushkin, was killed in prison. Two laureates, Pavel Seviarynets and Dzmitry Dashkevich, are behind bars. We will do everything for their release,” she said.
Tsikhanouskaya concluded her speech with the words of Vasil Bykau: “Belarus lives and will live. We will do everything for this!”
