THE MAN WHO KEPT THE RECORDS

Table of Contents

ALES BIALIATSKI

In 1996, Bialiatski founded Viasna, a human rights group, after a violent crackdown on protests in Minsk, Belarus. Viasna tracked arrests, gave legal help to people the state targeted, and supported their families. In a country where the government controls most of the news, simply keeping an honest record was a risky act.

Viasna monitored elections, counted political prisoners, and passed the information to the outside world. When mass protests broke out in 2020 after a disputed election, the group became even more important. Bialiatski and three co-defendants were charged with financing protests and smuggling money, charges that rights groups say were politically motivated. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2023, and Viasna itself was later declared "extremist" by the authorities.

In 2022, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the Russian group, Memorial and Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties. He was only the fourth person in the Nobel Prize's history to receive it while in prison or detention. The prize drew world attention to Belarus at a time when the war in Ukraine was pushing it out of the news. It also honoured a whole network of people who record abuses and help victims, not just one man.

In December 2025, he was one of 123 prisoners released by Belarus in exchange for U.S. concessions, after 1,613 days in prison. He was deported to Lithuania and now continues his work from exile. In January 2026, he finally received his Nobel diploma in Oslo. He has said he plans to keep working, and has pointed out that more than a thousand political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus.

Belarus is arguably more repressive now than when he started. He himself admits that the room to act inside the country has "decreased sharply". His release also came through a diplomatic deal rather than any change of heart by the government. His achievement is quieter than a political victory. He showed that even in a closed society, someone can write down the truth, defend the people being crushed, and make the world look towards them.

365 men who changed the world.

Kamikun John, Author 366 days of wisdom.