The thirteenth Václav Havel Human Rights Prize – which honors outstanding civil society action in defense of human rights – has been awarded to Ukrainian journalist and human rights defender Maksym Butkevych. The prize was presented at a special ceremony on the opening day of the autumn plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg.
Mr Butkevych is a co-founder of the Zmina Human Rights Centre and of Hromadske Radio. Despite his lifelong pacifism, he volunteered for the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the start of the 2022 Russian invasion and became a platoon commander. Captured and sentenced to 13 years in prison by Russian forces, he endured over two years of harsh imprisonment before being released in a prisoner exchange in October 2024. He remains a powerful symbol of courage and resilience in defense of justice and freedom.
The two runners-up for the 2025 Prize are Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli and Azerbaijani journalist Ulvi Hasanli. As both of them are currently detained in their home countries, their representatives – Ms Amaglobeli’s lawyer and Mr Hasanli’s wife – each received diplomas on their behalf at today’s award ceremony.
Opening the ceremony, PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos said it was no coincidence that all three shortlisted candidates this year were journalists. “Without the right to freedom of expression and free, independent and pluralistic media, there is no true democracy,” he pointed out, recalling that the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform had recorded 171 journalists in detention in Europe by mid-March of this year, including 98 in Council of Europe member states, while at least 26 Ukrainian journalists remain unlawfully detained by Russia.
Urging the immediate release of Ms Amaglobeli and Mr Hasanli, he said: “Your voice may be silenced, but your testimony is heard loud and clear.” The President – himself a former journalist – also thanked all three candidates for their courage in opposing authoritarianism and for acting as role-models for a whole generation of journalists and human rights defenders: “Governments should not be afraid of the truth,” he declared.
Accepting the award, Mr Butkevych said it was “a great honor, which means so much to me, and to all of us” and would have been “only a dream” while he was in Russian captivity a year ago. He dedicated it to Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians illegally detained by Russia, as well as all fellow journalists deprived of their liberty in authoritarian regimes. He urged the world not to forget them, and all those who fight for freedom and dignity: “Ukraine defends not only its territorial integrity, but also fundamental values. Our co-operation, our freedom and our desire to live in mutual respect, with dignity and without fear, are based on these values.”
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by PACE, in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation, “to honor outstanding civil society action in defense of human rights in Europe and beyond”. It consists of a sum of 60,000 euros, a trophy and a diploma.
Since its creation, the Prize has been awarded in turn to María Corina Machado (2024), Osman Kavala (2023), Vladimir Kara-Murza (2022), Maria Kalesnikava (2021), Loujain Alhathloul (2020), jointly to Ilham Tohti and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (2019), Oyub Titiev (2018), Murat Arslan (2017), Nadia Murad (2016), Ludmilla Alexeeva (2015), Anar Mammadli (2014) and Ales Bialiatski (2013).
