Russian dissident wins Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize

Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is currently in jail facing charges of treason, won the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize on Monday.

The human rights award, which comes with a €60,000 ($58,000) prize, is awarded by the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, also known as PACE.

Tiny Kox, the president of PACE, said it took "incredible courage in today's Russia to stand against the power in place."

"Mr. Kara-Murza is showing this courage from his prison cell," Kox said at the prize ceremony that took place in Strasbourg, France.

Kara-Murza co-founded the Russian Anti-War Committee to oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

He was arrested in April and is being held in pre-trial detention after speaking out against the war in Ukraine.

Kara-Murza dedicates award to other political prisoners

Yevgenia Kara-Muza, the jailed dissident's wife, accepted the award on behalf of her husband on Monday.

"The current Russian authorities — without intending to do so — have painted the portrait of a true patriot," she said.

She added that Putin's government views those who stand up to the Kremlin as traitors and said she was very proud of her husband.

She also also read a note that Kara-Murza wrote from jail for the recognition.

"With the start of Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine, he launched a war on truth in our country," he said in the note.

He said he dedicated the award to other political prisoners in Russia and that the prize money would go into a fund for their families.

Significance of the rights prize

The human rights prize is named after former Czech president and civil rights activist Vaclav Havel, to honor civil society action in Europe that defends human rights.

Russian human rights organization Memorial shared the Nobel Peace Prize with human rights advocates from Ukraine and Belarus this year as well.

This report was written in part with material from news agency AFP.

Edited by: Rebecca Staudenmaier