The opposition leader of Belarus, a jailed Algerian poet, a peaceful protest group of Turkish mothers and a Venezuelan reporter have won the Index on Censorship’s 2025 Freedom of Expression Awards.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was hounded out of Belarus after apparently winning a presidential election against the dictator Alexander Lukashenko in 2020, received the prestigious trustee award at a ceremony in London on Wednesday.
The judges said that Tsikhanouskaya, who ran for the presidency after her husband, a politician, was jailed, had campaigned tirelessly from exile for the return of Belarusian democracy.
Tsikhanouskaya at the Open Eyes Economy summit in Poland this week
BEATA ZAWRZEL/SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL
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The 43-year-old dedicated her award to several jailed journalists and “to all Belarusians who have sacrificed their freedom to speak the truth”.
“The regime couldn’t silence them, so it locked them up,” Tsikhanouskaya added in an acceptance speech. Her husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, 47, was freed from jail in June after diplomatic pressure from the United States. He had lost half his weight.
The annual Index awards were partly sponsored by News UK, the Times’s parent company, with Rosenblatt Law, Edwardian Hotels and the Hollick Family Foundation.
In the campaigning category the winners were the Saturday Mothers, a group of Turkish women who have protested for more than three decades, demanding justice for relatives who were forcibly disappeared after the 1980 military coup in Turkey.
The Saturday Mothers and supporters in Galatasaray Square, Istanbul
ALAMY
The judges lauded their “dedication and perseverance”, saying it was a “clear reminder to us all that the fight for human rights does not happen over night”.
In a video message, one of the women said the Index on Censorship award gave them “strength and hope that our struggle has been recognised”.
Another added: “All doors have been shut to us. Justice has not been served. But we didn’t give up.”
The women meet every Saturday at noon in Istanbul. In March 45 people were acquitted after being prosecuted for taking part in one of their vigils in 2018, which was broken up by riot police.
The Freedom of Expression Award for the arts was given to Mohamed Tadjadit, an Algerian activist and poet who is in prison on terrorism charges condemned by rights groups as bogus.
Tadjadit, 31, is known for his slam poetry criticising the hardline Algerian government. He is due to go on trial on November 30 on new charges of “inciting citizens against the authority of the state”.
Zaki Hannache, Tadjadit’s lawyer, said the award “honours his journey and reminds us that free art is always an act of resistance and hope”, adding: “Through his poetry, Mohamed has given voice to a generation seeking dignity and justice.”
The winner in the journalism category was Carlos Correa from Venezuela, who was highlighted for his courage in exposing censorship and threats to free expression over two decades. This year he was arrested and forcibly disappeared by Venezuelan state security forces for more than a week.
Correa said the award gave him the strength to speak out without fear and was a reminder of the need to “build vigorous democracies without hidden truths and where human dignity is the norm”.
David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, the comedian Rosie Holt, the campaigner Bianca Jagger and the playwright David Hare were among the hosts of the ceremony.