Ukrainian human rights activist, journalist, and former military man Maksym Butkevych became the laureate of the 2025 Vaclav Havel Prize.
This was reported by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
This year, in addition to Butkevych, the award was contested by Georgian journalist and co-founder of independent media outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti Mziya Amaglobeli. In August 2025, she was sentenced to two years behind bars for slapping a police officer during protests.
And also Azerbaijani journalist and director of the independent Abzas Media since 2016, Ulvi Hasanli. In June 2025, he was sentenced to nine years in prison and is currently being held in harsh conditions in a remote prison, where he has endured hunger strikes and solitary confinement.
They both took second place.
Who is Maksym Butkevych?
Maksym Butkevych is a Ukrainian journalist, human rights activist, and co-founder of the Human Rights Center "Zmina" and Hromadske Radio. He volunteered to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of 2022 and became a platoon commander.
The Russians captured him in June 2022 and sentenced him to 13 years in prison. Butkevych spent almost two and a half years in strict confinement before he was released in a prisoner exchange in October 2024.
- The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is an annual award for outstanding achievements in the protection of human rights in Europe and beyond. It was established in 2013 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, jointly with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation. The prize consists of €60 000, a trophy and a diploma.
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