Released BKDP leader to take part in the presentation of the Arthur Svensson Prize

Belarusian trade union leader Aliaksandr Yarashuk is currently in Norway, where he is taking part in the ceremony for the Arthur Svensson International Prize for Trade Union Rights. Last year, the prize was awarded to Yarashuk himself, when he was still imprisoned in Belarus.

Yarashuk visits Styrke's office in Oslo. International advisor Amalie Hilde Tofte on the left and her son Yury on the right. Photo: Egil Brandsøy.

This year, he has arrived in Oslo as a free man. The 2026 prize has been awarded to Nigerian trade union leader Joe Ajaero, and Yarashuk will take part in presenting the award to his colleague.

The Norwegian trade union Styrke has published an interview with Yarashuk in which he spoke about what he endured in prison. He compared the Belarusian prison system to Stalin’s Gulag and described cold torture, isolation and time in punishment cells as a form of legalised violence.

Yarashuk received a standing ovation from the Styrke federation board. Photo: Sigurd Sjåvik.

In the interview, Yarashuk also stresses that international pressure and trade union solidarity played a decisive role in securing his release. He says plainly that he was freed not because of the goodwill of the authorities, but because of his friends, his family and the international trade union family.

In Belarus, around 20 trade union activists still remain in prison, while independent trade unions have been destroyed. According to Yarashuk, the Lukashenko regime fears free trade unions precisely because they represent an organised and dangerous voice of working people. Styrke’s interview with Aliaksandr Yarashuk is available on the Norwegian trade union’s website.

Photo: Styrke

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