Former President of Poland Lech Walesa announced at a press conference in Gdansk today that Mikhail Khodorkovsky will be the sixth winner of the Lech Walesa Award. A press release that can be read in Polish here explains that Khodorkovsky will be awarded for “courage in promoting civil society values, determination in creating the foundations of economic freedom and an uncompromising attitude in the fight for justice and human dignity.”

President Walesa will present the award to Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s son Pavel during a ceremony in Gdansk this Sunday, September 29. The award includes a cheque for $100,000 to be used for a purpose chosen by the laureate.

Lech Walesa’s award is a prestigious international honour given to people, institutions and social movements working for peace, solidarity, democracy, cooperation between nations and respect for human rights. It was established in 2008 by Walesa to express his gratitude for the support he received when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983.

President Walesa said:

“This year we give the award to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who made economic freedom, civic values and social justice a banner of his public actions, a banner he carried high and persistently despite political obstacles. In spite of all the injustice he has suffered he has never stopped believing in the sense of his actions, aiming at realising his dream of a country open to the world, in which human rights are treated with respect.”

Pavel Khodorkovsky commented:

“The honour President Walesa and the jury has bestowed on my father reflects both his sacrifice and his uncompromising commitment. This award reinvigorates him, at a time when he is about to mark a decade of imprisonment. It reminds the world that he is not forgotten, and that any further prosecution against him will be vigorously opposed. It also encourages Russians fighting for a different future that they are not alone – that Poland, and Europe, are right behind them – in solidarity.”

Zbigniew Jagiello, a member of the award committee and Chairman of the Board of award sponsor, PKO BP bank added:

“The award of Lech Walesa is given to people, who are ready to make sacrifices in the name of democratic values and their attitude creates a chance for political and social changes. The fate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky shows clearly, that 30 years after Lech Walesa received the Nobel Peace Prize, actions supporting democratic change can still lead to persecution. I am convinced that the Award will be a moral support for Mikhail Khodorkovsky in his fight for the respect of basic democratic values”.