Václav Havel Human Rights Prize 2015

Lyudmila Alexeyeva A human rights defender (1927–2018), she was an integral part of the Soviet dissent. In her youth, she gave up a promising academic career and joined the Soviet dissident movement, going on to become a founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Group. Forced to emigrate to the US in 1977, she returned to the USSR in 1989 to continue her work. She became President of the International Helsinki Foundation and later joining the Russian President’s Commission on Human Rights. She has worked relentlessly for the protection and promotion of the rule of law.