Yushchenko receives JFK bravey award
Ukraine president Viktor Yushchenko, the populist politician who survived dioxin poisoning while forcing out the country’s pro-Russian government last year, has been honoured by the US with this year’s John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
Senator Edward Kennedy praised Yushchenko’s personal courage and said he had inspired those struggling for democracy across the globe.
The award, given in a ceremony in Boston, comes a little more than two months after Yushchenko took office riding the crest of a popular uprising during which masses of supporters camped out in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, claiming that a Kremlin-backed candidate stole a disputed election.
The government was forced to allow a second vote, which Yushchenko won.
After the election, Yushchenko claimed the Russian-backed regime of his predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, had tried to assassinate him. Yushchenko suffered near-fatal dioxin poisoning during last autumn’s presidential election, which left his once-smooth face sallow and pock-marked.
“At a critical moment in his nation’s history, he took a strong and courageous stand for what he knew was right. He risked his life, and nearly lost it, in the ongoing struggle for democracy in Ukraine,” Kennedy said.
The illness took Yushchenko off the campaign trail. For months, he suffered from liver and pancreas troubles and severe back pain. Last week, Yushchenko said investigators are closing in on those responsible for the poisoning.
“I could not calmly watch as the hopes of her citizens were replaced by disillusion, as millions of people were forced to look for work abroad, as oligarchical clans stole the national wealth,” he said, speaking through a translator.
“With every cell of my body, I felt that millions of honest people were behind me, that we could win, that we would undoubtedly win.”
Caroline Kennedy, president of the John F Kennedy Library Foundation and daughter of the assassinated president, praised Yushchenko’s faith in the Ukrainian people.
“For those of us who are free, he has reminded us that we can never take our freedom for granted,” she said. “And for people with no voice in their own government, President Yushchenko and the Ukrainian people have given them hope.”
Before accepting the award yesterday, Yushchenko went to Shriners Hospital to visit five-year-old Nastya Ovchar, who became a hero in her country when she saved her two-year-old sister Lyuda from a fire in their home last month.
“Millions of people care very much that she recover,” Yushchenko said.
Yushchenko is on a three-day trip to the US to lobby for aid and investment, win Washington’s support for joining Nato, and greet Ukrainian-Americans. He will address a joint session of Congress today.
The Profile in Courage award, named after President John F Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book Profiles In Courage, is presented annually to public servants who have made courageous decisions of conscience without regard for the consequences.
