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Christian Caryl By Christian Caryl

Op-ed editor, Global Opinions

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At this dark moment in the world’s history, it’s encouraging to see someone who is fighting the good fight get the recognition they deserve. Post contributor and pro-democracy activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was arrested in April by the Russian authorities for his public opposition to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, has just received one of Europe’s most prestigious honors.

On Monday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe awarded Kara-Murza the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, which honors exceptional efforts in the defense of basic freedoms. Readers of Kara-Murza’s opinion pieces in The Post will already be familiar with his courageous criticism of the Putin regime — and his insistence on doing so from his own homeland rather than from the safety of exile. His enemies have responded to this principled stand by trying to kill him: He has narrowly survived two poisonings. Now incarcerated in a Moscow jail for allegedly distributing “fake news” about the war, he recently learned that the government may be indicting him on charges of treason, which could add up to 20 years to his potential sentence.

Kara-Murza correspondingly couldn’t make it to Monday’s award ceremony in Strasbourg, France – but his wife, Evgenia, accepted the honor there on his behalf. She also shared the text of his acceptance speech with us. We are honored to publish it.

(Alexander Nemenov/Getty Images)