Cichanoŭskaja to attend 2023 Charlemagne Prize ceremony in Germany

May 10, BPN. Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja will attend the Charlemagne Prize ceremony in Germany with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky being this year’s award recipient.

The ceremony will take place in Aachen on May 14.

“I am proud to participate in the ceremony to honor the Ukrainian President and People,” she tweeted.

Zelensky is “a source of inspiration not just for Ukrainians, but for all the world,” Cichanoŭskaja, the 2022 Charlemagne Prize laureate, said in her congratulatory video posted by the award organizers.

“The people of Ukraine have endured the incredible suffering but they continue to defend their freedom and their right to decide their own future,” she said. “In Belarus, we are also fighting for our freedom and our right to exist as a nation.”

“We must win. If we lose, darkness will once again fall across Europe,” she stressed.

In 2022, Cichanoŭkaja along with Vieranika Capkała and Maryja Kałeśnikava were awarded the Charlemagne Prize for their contribution to the fight for human rights, freedom and democracy.

The Charlemagne Prize is one of the continent’s most valued awards honoring people and organizations for their leading role in the unification of Europe since 1950.

The winners included UN Secretary General António Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron and Pope John Paul II.