European Parliament’s Sakharov award acts as reminder to Russian Federation to improve its human rights situation

Natalia Estemirova

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The European Parliament has awarded this year’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named after the Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989) to the Russian human rights groups Memorial. The choice was announced yesterday, Thursday.
      The award ceremony will take place in Strasbourg in December.
      With the prize, the EU Parliament wished to commend the organisation’s chairman Oleg Orlov, founder Sergei Kovalev, and noted human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva in particular.
     
Announcing the award in Strasbourg to Memorial's key figures, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek of Poland said the assembly hoped "to contribute to ending the circle of fear and violence surrounding human rights defenders in the Russian Federation, and to advance our message that civil society activists everywhere must be free to exercise their most basic rights of freedom of thought and freedom of expression."
      According to Heidi Hautala, chair of the EP Subcommittee on Human Rights, acknowledging Memorial with the Award acts as a reminder of the fate of all the murdered human rights activists, including Anna Politkovskaya and Natalia Estemirova.
      “Today’s Sakharov Prize decision sends a clear message to the Russian Federation to finally deal with those who commit crimes against human rights defenders with impunity”, said Hautala in her Thursday statement.
      She noted with satisfaction that "Twenty years after the death of Andrei Sakharov it is timely that a Russian recipient is finally awarded for the first time."
     
Memorial promotes human rights and basic civil rights in Russia and a number of post-Soviet states, including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Moldova and Ukraine.
      Memorial’s activities in the Northern Caucasus region have been in a standstill because of murders and constant intimidation, Hautala pointed out.
      The prize carries a cash award worth EUR 50,000.
     
The Sakharov Prize in 2008 was awarded to the Chinese activist Hu Jia, whose fate was widely reported in these pages in the course of 2007 (see linked article).


See also:
  The Year of the Dog - A Chinese activist´s story (22.5.2007)

Links:
  European Parliament Press Release
  Memorial
  Memorial (Wikipedia)
  Heidi Hautala Press Release
  Sakharov Prize (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat