Larysa Fesenko is the principal and English teacher in the Kharkiv region. When the village of Lisova Stinka in the Kupiansk district was occupied, she was taken captive and subjected to 45 days of harsh interrogations and psychological coercion. Despite this, she retained her commitment to education and shared stories about her school with fellow prisoners, writes the Social Democrats in a press release.
"Larysa Fesenko receives the award for her courage, her integrity, and her advocacy for the value of education – under extreme circumstances," says Ann Linde, chair of the Anna Lindh Memorial Fund, in the press release.
The Anna Lindh Award is presented annually since 2004 in memory of the former Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, who was murdered in 2003. This year's award will be presented in Stockholm.
