This year, the Martin Ennals Foundation celebrates the 30^th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award, a prestigious distinction awarded by ten of the leading human rights organizations in the world. The ceremony in honor of the 2024 Laureates took place in Geneva on November 21^st. The Foundation is now continuing the 2024 festivities with a series of portraits of some of the most outstanding human rights defenders whom the Jury considered. 

Panayote Dimitras is a Greek Human Rights Defender and the founder of the Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM). Since 2015, he has filed hundreds of complaints against hate speech, hate crimes, and violent pushbacks of asylum seekers, leading to over 150 trials or charges. As a result, he faced accusations of filing false complaints, including a 2022 conviction alongside a GHM colleague, which was overturned on appeal in 2023. While some charges were quashed, trials for alleged false complaints against a former extreme right MP and a former Mayor are still pending. As of today, Panayote Dimitras is prohibited to leave his native Athens by court order.

–> STAY TUNED FOR PANAYOTE’S FULL STORY AND INTERVIEW, WHICH WILL BE PUBLISHED HERE SHORTLY