Putin lost the quadriga award

The founders of the German political prize "Quadriga" canceled their decision to award the award Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. On Saturday, July 16, reports The Local . In 2011, the prize will not be awarded.

The debtors of the award substantiated their decision by public protests. As soon as it became known that the “quadriga” will be awarded to Vladimir Putin, three people left the organizing committee of the prize, and the ex-president of Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Gavel, said that he wanted to return the award as a sign of protest against the decision of the jury.

The Political Award was established by the Public Organization of Werkstatt Deutschland. The award is awarded annually to public and political figures who distinguished, in the opinion of the jury, "exemplary educational activities, devotion to their work and commitment to public good."

Earlier, the Afrigi organizing committee said that one of the reasons for the awarding of Putin was the strengthening of Russian-German relations, which, according to the founders, was “one of the greatest achievements” of the Russian Prime Minister.

The head of the German Green Party, Jam Ozdemir, who was the first to leave the jury of the award, explained that the laureates of the Quadriga should become people whose activities were aimed at supporting and developing democracy, and Putin, in his opinion, was not such. Following Ozdemir, the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wayles and the historian of Heidelberg University, Edgar Wolfrum, left Ozdemir.

In past years, the laureates of the Quadriga were the first president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Serbia President Boris Tadich, former President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko and other politicians.