The Boris Nemtsov Prize was awarded to the representative of Ildar Dadin

The office of the Deutsche Welle media company on Monday, June 12, awarded the Boris Nemtsov Award for the courage to defend democratic values, this year awarded to the Russian Ildar Dadin. Dadin could not come to this ceremony due to the lack of a foreign passport, and his human rights activist Sergei Davidis accepted the award on his behalf.

Awarding the award on the day of the next mass protests in Russia, the founder and head of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation Zhanna Nemtsova expressed hope for imminent changes in Moscow policy. "I would like next year we could rename the award from the Award for the Smell to the Prize for Democratic Transformations," the daughter of the murdered politician said.

The festive speech at the ceremony was made by the Deputy Chairman of the European Parliament, Alexander Lambsdorf. The first laureate of the award, Pskov politician Lev Schlosberg, also performed.

An open vote for the candidates took place on the website of Novaya Gazeta. Readers chose a laureate at first out of 30, and then out of five applicants. In addition to Dadina, oppositionist Alexei Navalny, human rights activist and journalist Zoya Svetova, activist Sergey Mokhnatkin, as well as the Bryansk schoolboy Maxim Losev, who organized an anti-corruption action on March 26 in his city, were included in the short list of the prize.

The monetary equivalent of the award presented since 2016 is 10 thousand euros. All laureates or their representatives were invited to the Bonn ceremony. This was reported by the "German wave".

Ildar Dadin became the first and so far the only convicted under the article on repeated violation of the established procedure for organizing or conducting a meeting, rally, demonstration, procession or picket. In 2015, he was sentenced to three years in prison. On February 22 of this year, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation canceled the verdict and recognized Dadin's right to rehabilitation.