Dresden (dpa) – The well-known Russian Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been posthumously honoured with the Dresden International Peace Prize. His widow Yulia accepted the 10,000 euro award on his behalf at the state theatre in the capital of Saxony. Former Federal President Joachim Gauck paid tribute to the man who died in prison almost three months ago as a “selfless, almost superhumanly courageous individual who showed us that there can be another Russia”. He was “an icon of all decent Russians”, said Gauck.
A prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Navalny died under unexplained circumstances in a Siberian prison camp in the Arctic Circle on 16 February. Representing the organisers of the award, former Federal Minister of the Interior Gerhart Baum described Navalny as a “defender of human rights” who had given his life to this cause. Baum said the award also honoured Navalny’s wife Yulia, who had supported his fight and was now continuing to pursue it. It was “encouraging and inspiring” to see that she was carrying on his work “so unwaveringly, so courageously and with such self assurance”, Gauck said to Yulia Navalnaya. Yulia Navalnaya dedicated the award to those who “risk everything to fight for peace in Russia”.
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