The Tipperary International Peace Award has been presented to human rights activist and politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya today.
She contested the Belarusian presidential election in 2020 when she stepped into her husband’s place following his arrest for opposition towards President Alexander Lukashenko.
She received the award in St Mary’s Church of Ireland in Tipp Town in recognition of her fight for democratic change in Belarus
On Tipp Today earlier Martin Quinn from the Tipperary Peace Convention said many – including Sviatlana – felt she won the election.
“She feels that she got an overwhelming endorsement and that she should be President of Belarus but Lukashenko decided that he was going to declare the election null and void and that Belarus wasn’t ready for a female President.
“She eventually had to flee because she was arrested again herself. Her husband is in jail currently in Belarus so she had to flee to Lithuania with her children.”
Sviatlana has had a busy day in the Premier County – as well as receiving the Peace Award she has also addressed students at St Ailbe’s School and attended a wreath laying ceremony at the Tipperary Remembrance Arch.
Martin Quinn says she has many fond memories of the Premier County from her childhood.
“She was one of the children of Chernobyl as they called them. She came over to Ireland to Roscrea to the family of Henry Dean and that’s where she spent her summers as a child. So she has a very strong connection and she’s really delighted to be in Tipperary today to receive the award because it means an awful lot to her.”
