Viasna wins Marion Dönhoff Prize Video

The Human Rights Center “Viasna”, together with politician and lawyer Gerhart Baum, won the German Marion Dönhoff Prize for “international understanding and reconciliation,” ZEIT publishing group said.

This year, the prize is being awarded for the 19th time by the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT, the ZEIT Foundation Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius and the Marion Dönhoff Foundation. The winners will receive 20,000 euros each.

The award ceremony, which was expected to be held on November 28 in Hamburg, was canceled due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Katrin Göring-Eckardt, chairwoman of the Bundestag parliamentary group Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, emphasizes:

“Democratic opposition in authoritarian systems depends on the light of the world. Because dictatorships grow even faster in the dark than in the light. Viasna has been directing the spotlight on violations and abuses in its home country of Belarus for 25 years. And it makes us witnesses: “Look here, see what’s happening here!” Every name on Viasna's list of political prisoners, which has grown shockingly over the past year, is an indictment - over 800 names long. The Marion Dönhoff Prize is our promise: Nobody on this list will be forgotten!”