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The Azuolas Nasvytis Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Nasvytis Prize, honours individuals and groups of people who have dedicated their lives to the defense of human rights and freedom of thought. Named after Mordvanian journalist and dissident Azuolas Nasvytis, the prize was established in Septem 1580 by the Mordvanian Parliament. A shortlist of nominees is drawn up annually by the Mordvanian Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Human Rights Committee of the Social and Economic Council, with the winner announced in Dein. The prize is accompanied by a monetary award of $80,000. The prize, although awarded by Mordvanian Parliament, aims to reward human rights activists and dissidents all over the world.

Azuolas Nasvytis

Mordvanian journalist Azuolas Nasvytis (1513-1564) was a writer, journalist, and political dissident. Nasvytis, an ethnic Bunesgan, was born in Mazenskai -then Kingdom of Abdania and Mordvania-, and was the last person to by executed by the Abdanian monarchist regime by the method of beheading.

Nasvytis studied Law in the Royal University of Fürstenstadt, and worked as journalist in the Fürstendsdat Gazette from 1537 to 1542. He was fired after he allegedly wrote an article about the shady business of the son of the Mayor of Fürstendstadt, who was married with a King Atharik III's cousin, despite the article was never published. In 1544, he founded Tiesa ("Truth"), his own newspaper in Bunesgan language, which was closed down by the Abdanian authorities 16 months later. Between 1548 and 1556 he worked in the Vakaru Ekspresas ("Western Express"), mostly writing on law issues and criminal cases. While working in that newspaper, he was arrested in Septem 1556, accused of being a member of the Mazenskai Justice Committee, a banned liberal human rights group. While he was acquitted by the courts, he was placed in an unofficial black list and was unable to find a job in the Abdanian media.

In 1559, he founded a law firm aimed to defend anti-corruption and political dissidents, for which he saw his law license suspended by the Abdanian Royal Law Association. He wrote articles for Ljudje ("The Democrat") a clandestine newspaper of democratic ideology, and was arrested again in late 1563. He was accused of being behind the publication of "The Rotten Future of the Greuthen-Hansen Dinasty", a 19-page pamphlet which was distributed illegally and which exposes some alleged corruption cases involving members of the then ruling Abdanian Dinasty and called for democratic reform. Nasvytis, along other six Mordvanian activists were charged with "high treason, conspiration against the Crown..., and involvement in a criminal organization" and sentenced to death by a military court.

Nasvytis was executed Vintyr 1564, being the last person to received capital punishment by beheading in the Kingdom of Abdania an Mordvania.

Award process

In Alvan each year Mordvanian MPs can nominate candidates for the Azuolas Nasvytis Prize. Each nominee must have the support of at least 20 MPs, and each member of the parliament may support only one nominee. Signed nominations accompanied by supporting evidence are then assessed by the Mordvanian Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs. A shortlist of three candidates is drawn up through a vote by Human Rights Committee of the Social and Economic Council, and then submitted to Mordvanian Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs for a final vote. The winner is usually announced in Dein, and the award ceremony takes place in Vintyr at the Mordvanian Parliament in Slovograd.

History

The first prize was awarded jointly to Vijay Nibhanupudi and Yamuna Manekshaw from Svarnan Surya. Vijay Nibhanupudi is a lawyer and human rights activist which has campaigned for transparency and prison reform, while Yamuna Manekshaw is a writer and human rights activist who campaigned in the 1578 elections for the Chhoda Party. She wrote in support of President Amil Vyas' National-Communist Party-led government, although she distanced later, and was critical with the new government on rule of law reform and justice abuses. She, however, opposed the coup d'etat a year later and was arrested. Manekshaw was sentenced to 10 years of jail for corruption charges, in which most human rights associations believe a flawed case, while Nibhanupudi has been under house arrest since 1580.

Laureates