Václav Havel Human Rights Prize 2021

Maria Kalesnikava, one of the opposition leaders in Belarus and one of the three female symbols of the Belarusian opposition and its people’s struggle for civil and political liberties and fundamental rights. She was abducted in Minsk in September 2020, refused to go into exile and has been detained since then. She was charged with undermining national security and on September 6, 2021 sentenced to 11 years in prison in Minsk. Since mid-February 2023, she has been imprisoned in isolation and is forbidden to have any contact with her family. Her health deteriorated in May 2023 due to the untreated consequences of surgery. Maria’s health and the conditions she is kept in have been unclear for more than a year.

Václav Havel Human Rights Prize

The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by PACE, in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation, and consists of a sum of 60,000 euros, a trophy and a diploma.

The winner of this 60,000-euro annual Prize will be announced at the opening of the PACE’s autumn plenary session on 27 September 2021. An international conference will also be organised in Prague in honour of the 2021 laureate on 29 September.

Since 2013, the Prize has been awarded in turn to Ales Bialiatski (Belarus), Anar Mammadli (Azerbaijan), Ludmilla Alexeeva (Russian Federation), Nadia Murad (Iraq), Murat Arslan (Turkey), Oyub Titiev (Russian Federation), jointly to Ilham Tohti (China) and the NGO Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR), Loujain Al-Hathloul (Saudi Arabia).

For more information about the Prize visit us here.

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