Four distinguished figures and a civic association receive the Anton Srholec Freedom Award

The Trnava Self-Governing Region presented the Anton Srholec Freedom Award for the sixth time. The award for contributions to the protection of human rights and to strengthening democracy and the rule of law went to Gyula Hodossy, Blažej Baláž, the civic association Post Bellum and Václav Havel (in memoriam). Timothy Garton Ash accepted the award at the Central European Forum.

The President of the Trnava Self-Governing Region, Jozef Viskupič, stressed: “Through their lives and work, the laureates have shown us how important it is to stand constantly on the side of truth and justice.”

On behalf of Václav Havel — Czech writer, spokesman of Charter 77 and the last President of Czechoslovakia — the award in memoriam was accepted by his widow, Dagmar Havlová, in Prague.

Gyula Hodossy is a poet and cultural organiser who, after 1989, founded numerous organisations supporting culture and civil society.

Blažej Baláž is an academic painter and activist artist who was instrumental in establishing the Ján Koniarek Gallery in Trnava.

Post Bellum is a civic association that has collected more than 15,000 testimonies of people who resisted evil during the Second World War and under socialism, and systematically preserves this memory for future generations.

Timothy Garton Ash is a professor at the University of Oxford specialising in the history of Central and Eastern Europe. His work has long helped the West understand the transformation of post-communist societies.