The News: Memorial win Sakharov prize
167 views · Published 10 October 2012 · 1:34 · Indexed 6 November 2026
Channel: European Parliament · 2012 · News & Politics
The Sakharov Prize 2009 is going back to its roots. 20 years on, the prize honouring Russian dissident, Andrei Sakharov, was awarded by MEPS to Russian NGO, Memorial. Created by Sakharov himself in 1988 to promote human rights in Russia and former Soviet states. Human rights abuses exist in all post-soviet areas. and civil society wants to react to it. An NGO, Memorial is part of this group. It monitors, witnesses and expresses itself via the media, about what happens there. They try to change the situation. Human rights defenders often pay the price of change with their lives. Natalja Estemirowa, a Russian journalist and Memorial member was shot dead in July 2009 in Chechnya. She worked on sensitive human rights issues. We hope that Russia will finish the investigation into her death, and will bring to justice those responsible for this awful crime. This year two other contenders were up for the prize: Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian obstetrician who fights for peace, and Dawit Isaak, a Swedish journalist originally from Eritrea, imprisoned in Eritrea since 2001. The official Sakharov prize-giving ceremony for Memorial will take place during the December plenary. EuroparlTV video ID: 18b47c18-351e-47b4-a30b-f68df59a483f
