Human rights award to Putin critic

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian anti-government politician and fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, has been awarded the human rights prize. He was awarded the Vaslav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Council of Europe for 'having the courage to stand up to Putin'.

"Kara Murza has shown incredible courage to stand up to the authorities in Russia today and continues to do so from prison," the European Human Rights Organization said in announcing the award on Monday (October 10).

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Kara Murza, a journalist by profession, is currently in jail. He was arrested last April for criticizing the military operation in Ukraine. 

At that time, Kara-Murja's lawyer said that the police sent him to jail immediately after his arrest. 

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He is being investigated for 'treason' against the country. If found guilty, he could be jailed for 20 years. 

It is alleged that the Russian authorities tried to kill him by poisoning twice in 2015 and 2017 but failed.

In February of this year, Russian forces started military operations in Ukraine. In response, there were rumors that Russia might be expelled from the human rights body The Council of Europe. Meanwhile, Moscow withdrew its membership from the organization in March.