Nobel Peace Winner Ales Byalyatski's Wife Hopes Telegram Will Reach Him In Prison

Ales Byalyatski was detained in July last year on what the opposition calls trumped-up accusations including tax evasion.

The wife of Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Byalyatski said on Friday that he may not even know of the news, which she tried to break to him in a telegram to a Belarusian prison.

Natallia Pinchuk told Reuters she had not seen her husband, a leading human rights activist, since he was arrested last year. He is only the fourth person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in detention.

"It's pleasant news and very unexpected. There was absolutely nothing to suggest this could happen," she said in a telephone interview from an undisclosed location.

"I sent him a telegram today, I think I wasn't the only one. Maybe they'll give him these telegrams and he'll get the information and find out about this, I hope so."