The winner of the 2013 Lech Walesa Award has been announced. The 6th annual Lech Walesa Award is an accolade bestowed on those that promote human rights by the board of the $100,000 Walesa award.
On the winner:
Imprisoned Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is the winner of this year’s Lech Walesa award that promotes human rights, officials said Thursday.
The board of the $100,000 Walesa award said that Khodorkovsky is being recognized for “courage in promoting civil society values,” building foundations of economic freedom and his “unwavering struggle for justice and human dignity.” The annual award was founded in 2008.
Former Polish president and Solidarity movement founder Walesa said that “Regardless of all the injustice suffered, (Khodorkovsky) has never stopped believing in the sense of his actions, persevering with his dream of a country open to the world, and a country in which human rights are respected.”
Khodorkovsky’s son Pavel is to receive the award on Sunday in Gdansk
Source: Abcnews
