Ales Bialiatski is the chairman and founder of the Viasna Human Rights Center, the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and a former vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (2007-2016).

He has worked to promote democracy and human rights in Belarus since the 1980s. He graduated at the history and psychology faculty of Homiel University. Then became one of the founders of the legendary Belarusian Society of Young Writers "Tuteishiya" to promote Belarusian language, literature and culture.

In 1988, Minsk hosted the first large-scale protest in Belarus, and 26-year-old Bialiatski was among the organizers. The authorities violently dispersed the rally, Ales himself was detained and fined for the first time. In 1989, he became director of the Literary Museum of Maksim Bahdanovich, a poet-classic of Belarusian literature. He worked in this position until 1998. In 1996, when Aliaxander Lukashenka had already been in power for two years, the "Chernobyl Way" demonstration of many thousands took place - a protest on the occasion of the Chernobyl disaster. The authorities brutally dispersed it and detained more than 200 people, and activists united to help the detainees and their families. Thus, under the leadership of Ales Bialiatski, the Human Rights Center "Viasna" was established with branches all over Belarus.

The state has always put pressure on "Viasna", but after observing the presidential elections in 2001, the pressure intensified. In 2003, "Viasna" was deprived of state registration - in fact, this meant the liquidation of the organization, but human rights activists declared that they would continue their activities. In 2011, Ales Bialiatski was imprisoned: the Belarusian authorities accused him of hiding profits on a particularly large scale and sentenced him to 4.5 years in prison. In fact, this money went to human rights activities and to helping people. Three years later, Ales Bialiatski was granted an amnesty. He returned engage in human rights activities, despite the fact that he was still threatened with persecution in Belarus.

In 2020, the largest ever protests in the history of Belarus took place all over the country - hundreds of thousands of people expressed their disagreement with the falsification of the results of the presidential elections and with the violence that the police used against the protesters."Viasna" observed the elections and also helped victims of repression. A huge pressure on civil society began: the participants of the protests were dispersed with stun grenades and weapons, they were imprisoned for long terms, and the persecution for any manifestations of dissent expanded. In July 2021, Ales Bialiatski was detained together with his colleagues, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich.

In 2022, while behind bars, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, together with the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties and the Russian Memorial human rights group. He became the third person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison or in custody.

Ales Bialiatski is the author of several books. He has always enjoyed spending time in nature and growing flowers at his dacha.