Azerbaijani political prisoner was awarded the Vaclav Havel Prize

Human rights activist Anar Mammedli, who is sent to prison by the Azerbaijani authorities to for exposing adulteration in the presidential election, was awarded the Vaclav Havel Prize.

Name of the winner was announced at the opening of the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe(PACE) in Strasbourg on September 29.
Head of the Election Monitoring Center and democracy training was nominated by the Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership "for his significant contribution to the protection of the right to fair elections." He was arrested in December 2013, accused of "abuse of power" and other violations of law, and in May 2014 was sentenced to five and a half years in prison.
Besides Anar Mammedli, this year for the award of Vaclav Havel claimed Israeli organization B'tselem, that protects the rights of the Palestinians, as well as located in Malta branch of the international organization Jesuit, which protects the rights of asylum-seekers and refugees.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe annually awards Vaclav Havel Prize for outstanding action of the civil society in field of the protection of human rights in Europe and in the whole word. The prize is awarded in partnership with the Library of Vaclav Havel and the Foundation "Charter 77." The first winner of Vaclav Havel Prize in 2013 became the Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, who at the time of the awarding was also a political prisoner.