The Lithuanian Union of Journalists, the Lithuanian Society of Journalists and the family of MP Kazys Starkevičius have established a 1,000-euro Hope and Freedom Prize for Belarusian journalists.
“Free speech cannot be suppressed. Lithuanian journalists cannot, have not, are not and will not be indifferent to what is happening just a couple of hours away from Vilnius. There, in Minsk, people are systematically beaten, injured and persecuted. Belarusian colleagues who have suffered while performing their professional duties will from now on be awarded the Freedom and Hope Prize,” a statement said on Thursday.
The conservative MP Starkevičius is behind the idea to establish the prize and his family will be its patron.
“In this case, we really want to promote the feeling of hope and freedom for Belarusian journalists specifically,” Dainius Radzevičius, the chairman of the Lithuanian Union of Journalists, told BNS.
The prize will be awarded every year on December 10, the International Human Rights Day.
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