Woman-human rights defender from Chechnya nominated to Nobel Peace Prize

One of the main candidates for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize is Russian human rights activist Lydia Yusupova who worked in Chechnya and till 2006 headed the branch of the Human Rights Society "Memorial" in Grozny.

The France Presse Agency calls Lydia Yusupova, who had worked in Grozny during the second Chechen war, the major candidate for the Prize along with imprisoned "for subversive activities" dissident from China Hu Jia.

Ms Yusupova is now in Italy, writing her dissertation work.

According to the "Kommersant", Yusupova's colleagues have no idea on who had nominated her for the Prize. "I can't even guess who had nominated Lydia Yusupova for the Peace Prize, however, she certainly deserves it. She is a courageous person, who went developing the human rights movement through the hardest times," said head of the "Memorial" Oleg Orlov. "She is among those people who are ready to sacrifice their life for the sake of successful work," asserts Liudmila Alekseeva, leader of the Moscow Helsinki Group.

"Unlike many human rights activists who arrived to Grozny for a while and then made ungrounded statements, Ms Yusupova had worked in Grozny during the most terrible time," Timur Aliev, assistant of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, told the newspaper. "Yes, she criticized the authorities, but her work had helped in opening of many crimes, therefore, she is a worthy candidate."

Earlier, Lydia Yusupova took active part in searching the persons who had disappeared in Chechnya: it was thanks to her that the story of disappearance in December 2004 of eight members of the family of Aslan Maskhadov became known. In 2004, Lydia Yusupova received the Martin Ennals International Award in Geneva, in 2005 - the Prize of the Norwegian Foundation for Defending Human Rights. In 2007, she was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

We remind you that this June a group of European MPs offered to nominate the International Society "Memorial" for the Nobel Peace Prize.