Vladimir Kara-Murza wins Václav Havel Human Rights Prize

Russian publicist and opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza has been awarded this year’s Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, news agency AFP reported on Monday.

Mr Kara-Murza, who chose to remain in Russia despite allegedly being a repeated target of poisoning attempts, is an important figure within the opposition movement Open Russia. He was accused of treason by Russian authorities last week and he is currently in custody due to further charges of trying to discredit the Russian Army, the Czech News Agency reports.

Aside from Mr Kara-Murza, the list of nominees included the Rainbow Coalition, which campaigns for the defence of LGBTQIA+ rights in Hungary, as well as the Ukraine 5 AM Coalition, which has been uncovering war crimes during the ongoing Russian aggression against the country.

The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded every year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Václav Havel Library and the Charter 77 Foundation to honour outstanding civil society work in defence of human rights.