STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Lech Walesa, leader of Poland's disbanded Solidarity union movement, Saturday became the first recipient of Scandinavia's Freedom Prize for contributions to 'freedom and human dignity.'
Walesa was not present when the $7,000 prize was awarded during a ceremony at the Royal Theater in Stockholm. His empty chair on the theater's stage was draped with flowers in the Polish colors of red and white, in accordance with his own wish.
'We are very happy he was awarded the prize,' Walesa's wife, Danuta, said in a telephone interview from their apartment in Gdansk, Poland.
Walesa, traveling in Poland during the ceremony, could not be reached for comment. He did, however, write to the two newspapers that founded the award in December, Denmark's Politiken and the Swedish Dagens Nyheter.
'The award is a recognition of the ideas realized by Solidarity. These ideas have lost none of their value,' Walesa wrote. 'Our ideas are still living. Solidarity is strongly rooted in the hearts of millions and is the source of our hopes.'
Editor Arne Ruth of Dagens Nyheter said Walesa had indicated he planned to visit Sweden on his first trip abroad after being released from nearly a year of internment last November, but 'now fears he might not be let back into Poland if he left the country.'
Walesa gave the same reason this week when declining Harvard Universty's invitation to its commencement in Cambridge, Mass.
The award ceremony coincided with a two-day international seminar focusing on Poland, the post-war division of Europe and the independence of individuals in totalitarian societies.
'The prize was inspired by the work Solidarity did in a short and hectic period,' said Ruth when explaining why Walesa received the first prize. 'The struggle for freedom and human dignity is the basis for the award.'
The Freedom Award will be given annually, with the ceremony alternating between Stockholm and Copenhagen. It is meant for outstanding campaigners for human rights through non-violent means.
The award was accepted on behalf of Walesa by Jerzy Milewski, chairman of Solidarity's Coordination Office outside Poland, located in Brussels.
