Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko is set to be honoured with the Franz Werfel Human Rights Award 2025 at a ceremony in Frankfurt on Sunday.
The 53-year-old former world heavyweight boxer is to receive the prize in the German city’s St Paul’s Church at 12 pm (1000 GMT), with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius due to deliver the laudatory speech.
The award honours Klitschko’s tireless commitment to freedom, democracy and human rights both in Ukraine and beyond, according to the prize’s organizers.
The former professional boxer has served as mayor of the Ukrainian capital since 2014 and has been a prominent figure of defiance amid the continuing Russian invasion of the country.
The prize, which is endowed with €10,000 ($11,350), is awarded every two years by the Wiesbaden-based Centre against Expulsions, which documents expulsions and ethnic cleansing.
The most recent recipient was Romania’s former president Klaus Iohannis in 2023.
Source: dpa.com
