The 2022 winner of the Tipperary International Peace Award Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya says the award is for all of the people of Belarus.
Ms Tsikhanouskaya is in Tipperary town today for a full day of events to mark her selection for the prestigious award and will be at a public event at the Remembrance Arch, Station Road at 1.30pm.
Later this afternoon she will visit St Ailbe’s School, the Council office, the Circle of Friends Cancer Support Centre and the Christ the King viewing point in the Glen of Aherlow.
Ms Tsikhanoukaya says her childhood visits to Tipperary with the Chernobyl Children aid programme showed her an alternative society to that available in her home country.
The situation in Belarus is very dangerous at present with over 5,000 people in prison and up to 20 people per day being arrested if the Lukashenko Regime deems them a threat.
Ms Tsikhanoukaya says the alternative count in the 2020 Presidential election shows she won the vote.
The leader in exile appealed to the Irish Government to continue to support the people of Belarus and to do more for political prisoners and their families.
News that Russia is to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus is also alarming according to Ms Tsikhanoukaya who says the fate of Belarus and the fate of Ukraine is intertwined.
