On Monday 10 October, at the opening of its autumn plenary session, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe awarded its 10th Václav Havel Human Rights Prize to Vladimir Kara-Murza, the Russian opposition leader and co-founder of the Russian Anti-War Committee established to oppose Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
In the absence of her husband, who has been imprisoned since last April, his wife Yevgeniya read out a statement in which the winner dedicated his victory to the thousands of Russians who have expressed their opposition to the war and are committed to a “peaceful, democratic and Putin-free Russia” which will return to the Council of Europe one day.
In presenting the award, the president of the assembly, Tiny Kox, underlined the commitment of Vladimir Kara-Murza, “who had the courage to return to his country to continue his fight, even while having the possibility to stay safe”.
Other nominees were the “Rainbow Coalition” for the defence of LGBTQIA+ rights in Hungary and the “Ukraine 5 AM Coalition”, which documents war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
The sum of €60,000 that accompanies the Václav Havel Prize will be donated to the support fund for the families of political prisoners in Russia, announced Yevgeniya Kara-Murza. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)