The imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny won the European Parliament’s annual human rights award on Wednesday (October 20) for his efforts to challenge the control of power by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny was poisoned by a Soviet-style nerve agent described by Western countries in August 2020. After being shortlisted with a group of Afghan women and a Bolivian opposition politician sentenced to jail, he was selected by European legislators for the award The winner.
“He has worked tirelessly against the corruption of Vladimir Putin’s regime. This has cost him his freedom and almost lost his life,” said David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament. Said, He added that the award “recognized his great courage, and we again call for his immediate release.”
The largest group in the European Parliament, the conservative EPP Group and Renew Europe jointly nominated Russia for the award and announced the award on Twitter.
Navalny is one of President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics. He was sentenced to jail after returning to Russia from Germany at the beginning of this year, where he received months of treatment to recover from the poisoning.
His opposition movement was classified as an “extremist” by the Russian authorities, and some of his allies were forced into exile.
His recognition of the Human Rights Award may further exacerbate tensions between the European Union and Russia.
The European Union has imposed sanctions on Russian officials for Navalny’s poisoning and imprisonment. Moscow denied any wrongdoing and accused the EU of interfering in its internal affairs.
David McAllister, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (AFET) and member of the German European Parliament, stated that Navalny’s nomination “recognizes and emphasizes a brave individual for defending democratic governance, the rule of law, and citizenship. Freedom and anti-corruption efforts…”
At the awards ceremony held in Strasbourg on December 15th, Navalny is unlikely to go to receive the Sakharov Prize in person.
Past winners of the 50,000 Euro (59,000 USD) Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, include South African President Nelson Mandela, Venezuela’s democratic opposition and Pakistani education activist Malala Yusufzai.
Last year, the award was awarded to the democratic opposition in Belarus, who protested the country’s strongman President Alexander Lukashenko for several weeks.
