The Council of Europe on Monday awarded its 2025 rights prize to Ukrainian journalist and rights activist Maksym Butkevych, who was released last year after being captured by Russian forces.
Butkevych, co-founder of the independent Hromadske radio station and ZMINA human rights centre in Kyiv, joined the Ukrainian army in March 2022, then was detained in June and convicted of war crimes by a court in Lugansk in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine in March 2023.
He was sentenced to a 13-year prison term on charges of wounding two civilians while firing an anti-tank grenade launcher in the eastern city of Severodonetsk, but he was released during an October 2024 prisoner exchange.
In his speech, the 48-year-old recalled being held “in Russian captivity in a penal colony” exactly one year ago, on charges he denounced as “fabricated”.
“I have been inside the system that does not value human rights,” Butkevych said, wearing a black shirt bearing the words “Ukrainian prisoners of war: you are not forgotten.”
“Human rights — one has to face their absence to understand their value. They are not to be taken for granted.”
Butkevych said he accepted the award on behalf of the Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war “illegally detained by Russia”, as well as journalists living under authoritarian regimes.
He is the first Ukrainian to win the award named after the late Czech dissident, playwright and post-communist president Vaclav Havel.
Two other reporters, Mzia Amaghlobeli of Georgia and Ulvi Hasanli of Azerbaijan, both in detention, were also nominated for the prize.
The Council of Europe brings together 46 countries as a human rights and democracy watchdog. Russia was excluded from the body after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has awarded the prize since 2013, with previous winners including the Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado in 2024 and Russian activist Vladimir Kara-Murza in 2022.
– ‘Dangerous for journalists’ –
All three shortlisted candidates for the award were journalists, which was “no coincidence”, said PACE head Theodoros Rousopoulos.
“The last few months have proved particularly dangerous for journalists,” he said, adding that 171 journalists were in detention in Europe at the beginning of the year, including at least 26 Ukrainians detained in Russia or in the territories occupied by Moscow in Ukraine.
Amaghlobeli, 50, the co-founder of the independent media outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti, was sentenced to two-years in prison for allegedly slapping a police officer during a demonstration earlier this year.
The Council of Europe has described her incarceration as “politically motived”.
Hasanli, who runs the independent corruption-investigating outlet Abzas Media, was sentenced in June to nine years in prison.
“He has faced relentless government persecution since 2011, including arbitrary detention, torture, and politically motivated charges,” the Council of Europe said.
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© Agence France-Presse
