21:00, 16 December 2009

Chairman of European Parliament: EU hopes Russia to stop violence against its human rights defenders

The European Parliament, by awarding the Andrei Sakharov Prize to the members of the HRC "Memorial" and the Moscow Helsinki Group, is expressing gratitude to all Russian human rights defenders. This is said in the statement of the Chairman of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the members of the "Memorial" Oleg Orlov and Sergey Kovalyov and the chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group Liudmila Alekseeva received today in Strasbourg their award, adjudged on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of death of the Soviet dissident and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Andrei Sakharov.

"By awarding this year's Prize to Oleg Orlov, Sergey Kovalyov and Liudmila Alekseeva as representatives of the 'Memorial' and all other human rights activists in Russia, we hope to urge Russia to eradicate the violence and fear that accompany the work of human rights activists and to send a signal that civil society activists should everywhere act freely in implementing their fundamental rights - the freedom of thought and the freedom of self-expression," said Jerzy Buzek.