Jesuit Father Stan Swamy was posthumously awarded by the Martin Enels Prize jury for his work in protecting the tribal population in India.
The chairman of the jury, Hans Thülen, recalled that the prize, considered the Nobel for human rights, should have been given to Priest “in spring 2021, but unfortunately [ele] He died before he could get it. ,
“The jury wanted to clarify the many contributions of Father Stan to human rights, which cannot be overshadowed by his unjustified imprisonment by the Indian authorities,” said Hans Thülen.
The award of the award reminds the world of the work done by the Jesuit priest and the way Indian authorities mistreated him towards the end of his life, arresting him on terrorism charges despite his ill health.
feet. Stan Swamy, a Jesuit, aged 84, struggles for a lifetime, for the tribal people, for the ‘Dalits’, for the neglected and despised population, for the most pitiable people who are invisible to the public eye After doing that, he died. community.
He died on a bed in Bombay’s Sagrada Familia Hospital on July 5 last year. Therefore, the hospital ward was the last cell of his life, as the Indian authorities always ruled out the possibility of being released on bail till the end.
Protector of the poor, he was an inspirational priest to many. Despite international recognition of his work as an activist for human rights, especially for indigenous peoples, he was accused of terrorism by the authorities.
According to the AIS, “Many ‘Dalits’, the untouchables, were advocated by Pt. Stan as Christians throughout their missionary life. Indian society neglected them – continued to ignore them – as if they did not exist, as if they were invisible. Yes. But the Church welcomes them. That is why more and more ‘Dalits’ in India have also converted to Christianity.”
At the time of Father Stan’s arrest, the International Working President of the AIS Foundation, alerting the world to the plight of human rights defenders in India, said that “there will be other cases of priests and catechists who have been wrongly accused.” .Aim to spread fear and intimidate them.”
According to Thomas Heine-Geldern, the case of Fr. The stan of criminalizing the human rights defenders of ‘Dalits’ and those trying to give ‘better living conditions’ to the tribal population in India is just the tip of an iceberg.
