Aziza Abdirasulova, a human-rights defender from Kyrgyzstan, has been awarded the Council of Europe’s 2026 Raoul Wallenberg prize for work including documenting torture and supporting prisoners’ rights.
The prize recognises her efforts focused on prisoners’ rights, freedom from torture and the right to peaceful assembly, according to the Council of Europe said in a statement on Wednesday.
At a ceremony in Strasbourg, Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset said Abdirasulova had made an “outstanding contribution” to fundamental rights in Kyrgyzstan, often at personal and physical risk.
Berset said she was among the first independent human-rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan to systematically document torture and arbitrary detention.
The prize jury said Abdirasulova had refused to be silenced by intimidation and harassment, and pointed to the work of her organisation, Kylym Shamy, in exposing what it described as systemic human-rights violations and providing legal support to victims.
It added that she has worked to promote and protect freedom of assembly and the right to peaceful protest amid official restrictions on protests and public gatherings.
What the Raoul Wallenberg prize is
Receiving the award, Abdirasulova said she had defended rights including peaceful assembly, freedom from torture and cruel treatment, and freedom of speech and opinion, and said she had witnessed hundreds of cases of torture and tried to support victims.
The ceremony also included the chair of the jury, Roderick Liddell, as well as Hungary’s permanent representative to the Council of Europe, Harry Rusz, and Sweden’s permanent representative, Niklas Kebbon.
The award is presented every two years around 17 January, marking the anniversary of the 1945 arrest in Budapest of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who used his position to help save tens of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust.
The Council of Europe created the prize in 2014 at the initiative of the Swedish Government and the Hungarian Parliament, and it is awarded for what it describes as extraordinary humanitarian achievements by an individual, group or organisation.
