Zhanna Nemtsova awarded Lech Wałęsa Solidarity Prize
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
04.08.2015 17:45
President Bronisław Komorowski has presented Russian journalist Zhanna Nemtsova, daughter of slain activist Boris Nemtsov, with the Lech Wałęsa Solidarity Prize for 2015.
From left: Zhanna Nemtsova, President Bronisław Komorowski, former president Lech Wałęsa. Photo: PAP/Jacek Turczyk
The outgoing president Bronisław Komorowski said that besides the winner herself, the prize is dedicated to all Russian patriots who think that “a better, bigger, more beautiful Russia does not need to be a Russia that others fear.”
Nemtsova, who currently lives in Germany, told the Polish Press Agency that the award “is proof that Poland, unlike the rest of the Western world, has not forgotten about Russia.”
She added that part of EUR 1 million prize will be donated to charitable organisations in countries that are part of the Eastern Partnership, chiefly Ukraine.
Former Polish president and leader of the Solidarity trade union Lech Wałęsa, after whom the award is named, was also present during Tuesday's ceremony.
The award was created by Poland's foreign ministry in 2014, and is described by the ministry as “the first global distinction for democracy and freedom awarded by a country which made its systemic transformation in a peaceful way.”
Prominent Russian oppositionist Borys Nemtsov was shot down in central Moscow in February. (nh/rk)
Source: PAP