[kennyc]

The Latest: Free-Speech Group Praises Alexievich Nobel Honor

Writers' free-speech group English PEN called Nobel literature laureate Svetlana Alexievich "a tireless chronicler of voices which might not otherwise be heard," and said it hoped her victory would encourage the Belarus government to improve its human rights record.

The group's deputy director, Catherine Taylor, said she hoped the Nobel Prize "will further highlight the civil and political injustices in Belarus and go some way to bringing about the restitution of free speech and freedom of expression for all Belarusians."

Alexievich spent several years living outside Belarus after criticizing the country's authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is up for re-election on Sunday.

Alexievich has called the 2011 elections that returned Lukashenko to power "a humanitarian catastrophe for the entire Belarus society."
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015...he-latest.html