Thousands of people continue to demonstrate in Independence Square in Minsk to denounce the rigged election of Alexander Lukashenko.

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VSPress / SIPA

“Do not give up your fight.

We are by your side ”, declared the President of the European Parliament David Sassoli, awarding the Sakharov Prize to the“ democratic opposition ”to President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus.

He stressed that representatives of the opposition, most of them imprisoned or driven into exile, had "something brute force can never overcome: the truth".

The gesture was welcomed by the leader of the opposition, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.

This human rights prize "is a reward for the Belarusian people", she reacted from Copenhagen, where she is visiting.

"We are fighting and we are not going to give up", as a "reward for the people".

Contested re-election of Alexander Lukashenko

After the Uyghur intellectual Ilham Tohti, sentenced to life imprisonment in China for "separatism", winner in 2019, MEPs crowned a movement led by women and repressed by power.

Since the presidential election of August 9, Belarus has been the scene of an unprecedented mass protest against the re-election of Alexander Lukashenko, at the head of an authoritarian regime since 1994.

The award comes at a key moment: Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who had to take refuge in Lithuania, gave the head of state until Sunday to resign, threatening to call a general strike and intensify the protests.

"We hope that the Belarusian people speak with one voice this weekend and then," the former opposition candidate told AFP. 

Repression and election rigging

Even if the call for a general strike fails, “people will look for another way to fight, another form of protest.

We will not stop, ”she insisted.

President Lukashenko is threatened with sanctions by the EU, which has already taken action against 40 regime officials accused of being involved in the repression and rigging of the election, the result of which the Union does not recognize.

"The EU calls on the Belarusian authorities to release all prisoners and to engage in an inclusive national dialogue," urged Charles Michel, President of the European Council, an institution representing the 27, on Twitter.

"The European Union salutes your courage and fully supports your ambitions", also tweeted the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell in the direction of the winners.

Almost all of those linked to Svetlana Tikhanovskaya incarcerated

In addition to Ms Tikhanovskaya, the Parliament distinguished nine opposition figures, including the two women who campaigned alongside her, Maria Kolesnikova, now imprisoned, and Veronika Tsepkalo, in exile, as well as the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Svetlana Alexievich.

But also the husband of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky, as well as Mikola Statkevich, historical figure of the opposition, both in prison.

Almost all of those linked to Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and to the Coordination Council formed to wrestle a transition to power have been imprisoned, placed under house arrest, or forced to flee abroad.

Every Sunday, the Belarusians are tens of thousands, despite the risk of arrest and now the threat of the use of live ammunition, take to the streets.

Saturday is the occasion for a march of thousands of women, and Monday for retirees.

Western plot according to Minsk 

Supported by Russia, Alexander Lukashenko excludes any major concession, promising a vague constitutional reform to get out of the crisis, and staging a mock dialogue with opponents by visiting them in prison.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa recorded the support of the EU, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron.

Double-edged support, Moscow and Minsk relentlessly denouncing a Western plot.

This 38-year-old woman, an English teacher by training, embarked on the presidential campaign after the arrest of her husband Sergei, who had made a name for himself on YouTube by denouncing the "cockroach" Lukashenko and had planned to challenge him to the election.

She was joined by Maria Kolesnikova and Veronika Tsepkalo, close to two other candidates who were victims of the repression.

The female trio has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. The Sakharov Prize is due on December 16.

Endowed with 50,000 euros and awarded for the first time in 1988, this prize "for the freedom of the spirit" owes its name to the nuclear physicist Andreï Sakharov, great figure of the dissidence at the time of the USSR.

It has served as the antechamber of the Nobel Peace Prize several times.

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