Two Russian human rights activists – Natalya Estemirova, 40, a journalist and teacher, and Sergey Kovalev (picture), president of Russia´s Human Rights Institute – are nominees for the European Parliament´s top human rights award. Both have been actively campaigning against use of force in the Chechen Republic. (06-OCT-2004)

Natalya Estemirova, 40, a journalist and teacher, and Sergey Kovalev, president of Russia´s Human Rights Institute, are on a single ticket one of three nominations for the 2004 Sakharov Prize for Freedom on Thought. The move follows the European Parliament´s harsh criticisms of Russian President Vladimir Putin´s military campaign in the Chechen Republic and the human rights abuses it says have been committed there.

Some Western officials and Russian liberals have accused Putin of rolling back democracy in the Russian Federation following last month´s school siege by Chechen rebels where more than 300 people died, half of them children. The two activists in the running for the Sakharov prize want Putin to open peace talks with Chechen separatists and end the military offensive.

EU lawmakers sitting on the assembly´s Foreign Affairs Committee also placed the Belarussian Association of Journalists and kidnapped Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt on the prize shortlist.

The Belarussian journalists body was nominated for fighting for media freedom in the former Soviet republic. President Alexander Lukashenko is accused in the West of cracking down on his liberal opponents and stifling independent media.

The heads of the European Parliament´s political groups will decide on the winner but no date has yet been set for the meeting. The prize will be awarded during the assembly´s plenary session in Strasbourg, France in December.

The Sakharov award, named after the former Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, is presented annually to someone the parliament views as having contributed significantly to promoting human rights. Previous recipients include the United Nations and its Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova and Turkish Kurd human rights activist Leyla Zana.

Sources: www.hro.org
www.mosnews.com

Photo: www.hro.org