Three finalists of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize 2021

Maria Kalesnikava, Belarus

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.

Reporters Sans Frontières
The nominee is a leading INGO that safeguards the freedom of expression and information. Since 1985, RSF has provided emergency support to thousands of journalists at risk around the world and obtained the release of several detained journalists. RSF systematically takes steps to ensure investigation and legal proceedings against those responsible of the murder of journalists and supports democracy by rolling back disinformation.

Mr Germain RUKUKI, Burundi
The nominee is a human rights defender who has been campaigning in the human rights field for years (in particular, against torture and the death penalty). Since 2015, human rights defenders and organisations in Burundi have been facing a shrinking space and have been targeted by the authorities. In this context, the nominee was sentenced in 2018 to 32 years in prison in what the international community considered to be a pretext to silence his voice and criminalise his human rights work. Subsequently, a Court of Appeal reduced his sentence to 1 year in 2021 and he was released.

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