EP nominates Leyla Yunus for Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought

The European Parliament (EP) has started the process of selecting nominees for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Leyla Yunus, an Azerbaijani rights defender, the Director of the non-commercial organization "Institute for Peace and Democracy" (IPD), has been announced to be one of the seven official candidates nominated for the award.

According to Linda Makavan, an MP of the socialist faction, the Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Development, committees are to vote on the candidates on October 7, and the faction leaders are to hold final voting on October 13, the RIA Novosti reports.

The coalition of European human rights NGOs supports the candidacy of Leyla Yunus. This was announced by Gerald Knaus, a representative of the coalition, in his report of September 23 published on the website of the European Stability Initiative (ESI).

Human rights defenders from Russia, including Sergey Kovalyov, Svetlana Gannushkina, and Oleg Orlov, members of the Board of the international historical, educational, charitable and human rights organization "Memorial", and Lyudmila Alekseeva, the Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group, also express their support for the nomination of Leyla Yunus for the award of the European Parliament.

In their letter to the European Parliament, they note that, after Leyla Yunus is granted the award, she will be a worthy successor to the "Memorial", which was granted the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2009.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.