A price for freedom!
The Axel Springer publishing house (to which BILD also belongs) has the Russian opposition politician, historian and journalist Vladimir Kara-Mursa (41) with the Award for Courage excellent.
Kara-Mursa has been fighting for a democratic Russia for decades, survived two assassination attempts by the Putin regime with nerve agents – treatment in the USA saved his life. Nevertheless, he returned to Russia to fight alongside his compatriots once morest the Putin regime. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February this year, he founded an initiative once morest the war, was subsequently arrested and charged with high treason. Kara-Mursa face 24 years in prison.
His wife Evgenia Kara-Mursa accepted the Award for Courage on behalf of Berlin – Wladimir Kara-Mursa is the first winner.
Wladimir and Evgenia Kara-Mursa are fighting for a democratic and free Russia – and they are now also fighting for the life and freedom of their husband (Archivfoto)
The award ceremony took place on Monday, November 28, in the journalists’ club of Berlin’s Axel Springer high-rise building in the presence of international human rights defenders and guests from politics, business and society.
“The advocates of freedom and democracy want to be part of a global community that is defined by fundamental values,” said former Federal President Joachim Gauck in a welcoming address. “Your fight deserves our continued support. Today we want to honor one of those brave men: Vladimir Kara-Mursa.”
Former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky presents Evgenia Kara-Mursa with the Award for Courage
Natan Sharansky, Soviet dissident and author, gave the eulogy for the award winner. Sharansky, who himself spent nine years in the Gulag, said of the Russian dissidents: “They are the beachheads of freedom. Your fight must be our fight. Even a very small bridge between our free world and those bridgeheads – like the prison where Vladimir Kara-Mursa is being held today – is very important.”
Evgenia Kara-Mursa, who continues her husband’s fight, can only communicate with him through letters. Before the award ceremony, she quoted from a handwritten message from her imprisoned husband: “I would like to dedicate this award to all of them. And I hope that when people in the free world think and talk regarding Russia, they think not only of the kleptocrats, the war criminals and other perpetrators who sit in the Kremlin, but also of those who oppose them. Because a nation without us is no longer a nation.”
Kara-Mursa has been fighting for a democratic Russia for decades and was a close companion of the Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered in Moscow in 2015. A little later, the Putin regime also wanted to kill Kara-Mursa and carried out a poison attack on him, which he barely survived.
Award for Courage
The Award for Courage honors courageous commitment to human rights. The award is thus in the tradition of company founder Axel Springer, whose unconditional commitment to freedom has always been a core concern and the basis for his personal and entrepreneurial actions.
A top-class committee was responsible for the selection of the Award for Courage, including Natan Sharanski, Masih Alinejad (journalist and women’s rights activist), Samuel Chu (founder and President Campaign for Hong Kong), Roya Mahboob (co-founder Afghan Girls RoboticTeam) and Rushan Abbas ( Founder and Executive Director Campaign for Uyghurs).
Numerous guests from politics, business and society attended the award ceremony, including Renata Alt (Chairwoman of the Committee on Human Rights in the German Bundestag), Marco Fieber (Libereco – Partnership for Human Rights eV), Thor Halvorssen (Human Rights Foundation), Dr. Remko Leemhuis (American Jewish Committee), Wenzel Michalski (Human Rights Watch), Idriss Nor (DOEN Foundation), Woodward Clark Price (Envoy of the US Embassy in Germany), Ron Prosor (Ambassador of Israel to Germany), Patrice Schneider (Media Development Investment Fund), Rebecca Schönenbach (Women for Freedom eV), Prof. Dr. Jhy-Wey Shieh (Taiwan’s representative in Germany) and Sigrid van Aken (PostCode Lottery).
This year’s Award for Courage was donated by the PostCode Lottery.