Jailed Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny receives this year’s Günter Wallraff Prize for press freedom and human rights. “I think: Alexej Navalny deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his selfless commitment and sacrifice,” Wallraff told the German Press Agency in Cologne today.
The prize, worth 5,000 euros, has been awarded by the News Enlightenment Initiative (INA) since 2015. Previous recipients include Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and Saudi blogger and human rights activist Raif Badawi.
As reported by Deutschlandfunk, the prize is to be awarded during the 7th Cologne Forum for Journalism Criticism on May 3rd. Navalny’s colleague and friend Georgij Alburow will accept the award for him.
The jury’s reasoning included the following: “Navalny is risking his own life for democracy and human rights in his country.” In particular, with his journalistic and investigative activities, he attracted the hatred of President Vladimir Putin.
Publicity as an opportunity for Navalny
Wallraff told the dpa that the Putin regime is currently trying to insidiously kill Navalny in the penal camp through solitary confinement and ever new punishments, harassment and presumed insidious bacterial poisoning. Initially sentenced to nine years in prison, he is now to be silenced for another 30 years in captivity on fabricated terrorism charges.
“The public and worldwide sympathy for his fate unmask the Russian unjust regime from within and are Navalny’s encouragement and possibly life insurance at the same time,” said Wallraff.
