The international jury of the Bruno Kreisky Prize for Human Rights unanimously awards the Bruno Kreisky Prize for Human Rights to the Turkish author Asli Erdogan for her outstanding services to the development and protection of international human rights. The Bruno Kreisky Prize for Human Rights is named after the late Chancellor of Austria Bruno Kreisky and is the oldest, most prestigious human rights award in Austria.
Asli Erdogan, who worked as a research physicist at CERN in Geneva, and was a guest as a "writer in exile" at the International House of Authors Graz from 2012 to 2013, has been very active in and unreservedly committed to the enforcement of human rights throughout her life.
The manifestations of suffering and injustice, which she consistently investigates in her writings, serve as a benchmark in the work of Ms. Erdo?an, the committed human rights activist.
Ms. Erdogan is currently being prosecuted in her homeland of Turkey. She is being accused of four different crimes, including an indictment because of her column and her membership in a newspaper advisory board. She was arrested on accusations of disrupting the unity and integrity of the state and being a member of a terrorist organization. She was released on bail on December 29th, 2016, but has been banned from travelling abroad. Her next trial date is set for March 14th, 2017.
The Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Prize to the writer Asli Erdogan also serves a symbol against massive restrictions of human rights.