Tribute to the Laureate of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize

The Václav Havel Library held the 10th anniversary international conference in honour of Vladimir Kara-Murza at the Prague Crossroads Centre. Vladimir was the recipient of this year's Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, which is awarded annually by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library and the Charter 77 Foundation. The conference was subtitled "Crime and Punishment - Crimes against Peace and Humanity and the Wheel of Justice" and featured as its main guest Evgenija Kara-Murza, the wife of imprisoned Russian opposition politician, author, historian, and a leading democracy campaigner who openly criticised Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

The annual award bearing the name of the first President of the Czech Republic is accompanied by a prize of 60,000 euros. Its first laureate was the Belarusian dissident Ales Bialiatski, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in early October. Last year, the award went to a leading figure of the Belarusian opposition, the imprisoned Maryja Kalesnikava. The aim of the award is to highlight and reward outstanding achievements in the protection of human rights in Europe and beyond. The winner of the Award is selected by a seven-member international jury headed by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly, based on nominations.

Three candidates were nominated this year. Among the other awardees is the Rainbow Coalition ( a human rights association that fights for the rights of LGBT+ people in Hungary, which includes, among others, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and non-binary people) and 5 AM Coalition (Ukraine's organisation which was launched the day after the beginning of Russia's large-scale invasion with view to protecting the victims of the armed aggression).