The medal will be awarded (including posthumously) to Belarusians and foreigners who have made a significant contribution to the struggle for human rights and democratic freedoms in Belarus.
The medal has a round gold medallion with a portrait of Larysa Geniush in the centre. On the reverse side of the medallion, in the rays of the sun, is the inscription: "Live for Belarus".
The medal's plot is based on the image of Larysa Geniush, a poet who was politically isolated in the USSR and who walks through darkness to light. The inscription on the reverse, a fragment of her poem, symbolises the poet's defiance and loyalty to national and democratic ideals.
"Larysa Geniush, in whose honour the medal is named, is a true Belarusian heroine. She never bowed her head to the chekists, survived the camps, did not accept Soviet citizenship and sacrificed her personal happiness for the sake of her homeland," said Alina Kovshik, the Cabinet's representative for national revival.
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