KYIV – Nadiya Savchenko on April 22 became the laureate of the Light of Justice Award – a recognition “for moral, spiritual and ethical leadership.” Despite organizers’ hope that they would see the illegally imprisoned Ukrainian pilot freed and be able to give her the award in person, the statuette and words of gratitude were received by her sister Vira Savchenko.
The Light of Justice Award was established by a Canadian of Ukrainian background, Anastasia Shkilnyk in honor of her father, Dr. Mykhaylo Shkilnyk, a prominent lawyer, and a community and political activist during the liberation movement in Ukraine in 1917-1920.
UCU
Vira Savchenko holds the Light of Justice Award that recognizes her sister Nadiya Savchenko “for moral, spiritual and ethical leadership.”
In his introductory remarks at the awards ceremony, which took place at the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine with the support of the Ukrainian Catholic University, Myroslav Marynovych, UCU vice-rector, stressed that Ms. Shkilnyk was concerned that in Ukraine there is what one Kyiv sociologist called “an amoral majority.”
“Society was afraid; it did not want to lead an honest life. In order to encourage it to return to God’s commandments and moral principles, Ms. Anastasia Shkilnyk turned to UCU with the proposal to be co-founders of the Light of Justice Award. The award was to recognize particular individuals for their ability to instill the ‘Light of Justice’ in the dark slots of human souls and to point the way to a more humane society,” explained Mr. Marynovych.
Today the award laureates are those individuals who, being in the vanguard of Ukraine’s socio-political life, provide constant testimony of their modesty, fidelity to moral principles, the courage of their convictions and sacrifice in propagating the ideals of a democratic society.
This year the prize was presented by the husband of the deceased founder of the Light of Justice Award, Dr. Jim Kingham
According to Mr. Marynovych, who was a member of the jury, the nomination of Nadiya Savchenko received the unanimous support of all jury members.
“With the Light of Justice Award, the Ukrainian Catholic University, together with other members of the jury, strives to distinguish those individuals, who can very clearly differentiate their world from the world of evil. They are capable of defining the scope of morality and spirituality from the world of anti-spirituality. Nadiya Savchenko is a person who knows that one has to struggle for moral principles and knows how to make sacrifices for it. This means that she is an example for others. During this year, in our opinion, she was most worthy of this award,” he noted.
Vira Savchenko read a letter from her sister, in which the imprisoned pilot addressed the Ukrainian Catholic University community:
“… I feel somewhat uncomfortable about this, because it seems to me that I still have not done anything to deserve such trust from the Ukrainian people. I worry that I may not have adequate wisdom, brains and strength in order to justify such high trust and such enormous expectations, and the hopes placed on me by my people.
“I am sincerely grateful to Anastasia Shkilnyk for establishing such an award, which recognizes people who are examples to others. I am thankful to the Light of Justice Award committee that they recognized me as such a person. Certainly, if people have decided so, then I do not have the right to bashfully refuse and can only sincerely thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. I promise you that I will utilize all my efforts and will do everything possible in order not to betray your trust and remain worthy of such an exalted recognition and to stand with dignity next to all those prominent people who have already received it.”
Previous laureates of the Light of Justice Award have included human rights advocate and former Soviet political prisoner Yevhen Sverstiuk and Crimean Tatar leader and rights activist Mustafa Dzhemilev.
During the awards ceremony, a documentary film about Nadiya Savchenko was screened.