By Daisy Ayliffe - 12th December 2006
Belarusian opposition leader Aleksander Milinkevich has won the EU award for freedom of thought.
In his acceptance speech on Tuesday Milinkevich acknowledged the sacrifices made by all those who oppose president Alyaksandr Lukashenka's rule.
"This is not only my prize. Together with me, this prize also goes to all those Belarusians who are struggling for freedom,” he said.
“All those who were and still are imprisoned, those who were expelled from universities and who were fired from their job," he added.
EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner congratulated Milinkevich on winning the 2006 Sakharov prize.
“He is a courageous fighter for democratic freedom and human rights in Belarus,” she said.
“As leader of the Belarus united democratic opposition forces, he has consistently campaigned for greater freedom of thought and expression.”
The EU hopes that awarding the annual prize to a Belarusian will encourage “Europe’s last dictatorship” to come in from the dark and embrace democracy.
But Milinkevich said Brussels needs to do more to support his country.
"What the united Europe is missing is a mechanism of concrete assistance to those struggling inside undemocratic countries - it is not Belarus alone that suffers from injustice," he said.
"The EU should urgently work out flexible assistance programs for those who are under dictatorships."
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