Bialiatski among three nominees for Havel Prize

A Belarusian political prisoner is among three nominees for the Václav Havel Prize.

BelaPAN has learnt the news from the press service of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The jury consisting of six independent experts and PACE president Jean-Claude Mignon drew up its shortlist on the basis of 27 candidatures which fulfilled the criteria for the Prize.

The shortlist of six candidates included Russian human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva, Ales Bialiatski, the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (Hungary) and the Rights Defence Network (China).

The three nominees are Ales Bialiatski, the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association and the Rights Defence Network (China).

““A reaction is needed when human rights are under threat, and this is what we do,” Jean-Claude Mignon said. “But it is also necessary to encourage and place the spotlight on those who commit themselves to human rights, and this is something we perhaps do a little less. This is what the Prize does.”

The winner will be announced on September 29, the first day of the PACE autumn session, the PACE press service reports.

The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation and is worth €60 000. The Prize aims to reward outstanding civil society action in the defence of human rights.

The Belarusian human rights activists serves his term in correctional colony No. 2 in Babruisk. He is officially recognised as prisoner of conscience.