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Because he “set an example” in Russia and is a role model for everyone “who believes in freedom and dignity,” Navalny was awarded the prestigious prize posthumously.
Dresden – The Kremlin critic and political activist Alexei Navalny was posthumously awarded the Dresden International Peace Prize. At the award ceremony in Dresden, his widow Julia Navalnaja and the former Federal President of Germany Joachim Gauck were present as laudators. In his speech on Sunday (May 12), Gauck emphasized that Navalny’s life’s work was “a monument” and that the activist, who died in a Russian penal colony at the age of 47, remained a “role model for everyone who believes in freedom and dignity, also for the people of Russia.”
The prominent political adversary of Russia’s ruler Wladimir Putin had campaigned against corruption in Russia since 2010 and blamed the government there under Kremlin boss Putin for the political grievances in the country. Together with his team, he produced investigative films and stood as an opposing candidate in several elections. After he was excluded from the presidential election in Russia in 2018, a politically motivated assassination attempt on the Kremlin critic followed in 2020, which also brought him international fame.
“Human rights defender”: Laudators pay tribute to the life’s work of the late Navalny
The courage to continue taking action against the government in Russia despite everything that has happened and after his treatment in Germany Russia Gauck and another prominent speaker at the award ceremony, former Federal Minister of the Interior Gerhart Baum, also emphasized the importance of returning. The latter described Navalny as a “human rights defender” and emphasized that he had “set an example”.
In addition, Gauck also praised the commitment of Navalnaya, who now lives in exile and is continuing Navalny’s work together with his team. Gauck emphasized that it was “encouraging and inspiring” how “undeterred,” “courageous and self-confident” Navalnaya was to advance her husband’s work, who for him represents “an icon of all decent Russians”. Navalny, who died on February 16 under still unclear circumstances in a penal colony in Siberia, was a “selfless, almost superhumanly brave man” who “showed us that there can also be another Russia.”
Illusion and false hopes: Navalny’s widow warns about Putin in Dresden speech
Navalnaya herself, who accepted the prize worth 10,000 euros, also spoke up and warned, above all, of the influence of Russia’s ruler Vladimir Putin, with whom there is “no negotiation”. “The world must finally put aside its illusion and false hopes and listen to those who have warned about Putin all these years,” emphasized Navalnaya in her acceptance speech, which she dedicated on behalf of her husband to all those “who are fighting for peace in Russia and risk everything.”
Since 2010, the Friends of Dresden have awarded the Dresden Prize in February on the anniversary of the city’s destruction in the Second World War to personalities who have made a special contribution to peace and international understanding. The well-known award winners in recent years have included former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, the war photographer James Nachtwey and the architect Daniel Libeskind. (saka with dpa)
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