Human rights activist, gynecologist and Maidan

The European Parliament published a short list of the Andrei Sakharov Prize

The Andrei Sakharov Award is awarded for achievements in the field of the struggle for human rights and freedom of expression. This year, activists of the Ukrainian movement of Euromaidan, Azerbaijani human rights activist Leila Yunus, who is arrested on charges of treason, and a gynecologist from the Congo Denis Mukwege, who helps the victims of sexual violence became nominees .

Sakharov award nominees were determined by the results of the vote, which took place on Tuesday in Brussels. Many Russian public figures advocated the nomination of Azerbaijani human rights activist Leila Yunus . In particular, Sergey Kovalev, Svetlana Gannushkina, Oleg Orlov, Lyudmila Alekseeva spoke out in her support.

The director of the Institute of Peace and Democracy, Leila Yunus was detained in late July on charges of a number of crimes, including "treason to the Motherland." A little later - in early August - her husband, public activist Arif Yunus, was arrested for the same charges. According to the daughter of human rights activists Dinara Yunus , in the investigative insulator the state of health has noticeably worsened:

- The last time I spoke with her mother before her arrest, July 29. And with dad-the 4th I spoke, also before his arrest. I know that they have very weak health, and it is getting worse and worse. Mom develops diabetes, her sugar rises. Since she did not have access to medicines for three weeks, her diabetes deteriorated sharply. She also has constant headaches. They began after an attack on her a policeman in prison, these beatings can lead to deplorable results, to blindness. I have no connection with my dad, I don’t know what is happening to him. It is very important that they raise noise, publicly talk about the condition of my parents and demand them immediate liberation. As you can see, the condition worsens, especially Mamino, ”said Leila Yunus Dinara’s daughter in an interview with the“ present time ”program.

On Thursday, October 9, Russian human rights activists intend to hold a single picket in support of Leila Yunus at the Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow. The city authorities refused to coordinate a more numerous action, the organizer of the picket, chairman of the Civil Assistance Committee Svetlana Gannushkina said in an interview with RS:

- We did not doubt the minute that everything would be in order. Because we submitted the application on time and there was no reason to refuse to maintain the picket. However, instead of notifying that our application for a picket was made, we received a refusal decision. In this decision it was written that this picket, its content is an interference in the life of another state. That is, it turns out that civil society has no right to speak out about violations of human rights in another country.

- What did Leila Yunus do and what was the reason for her arrest?

- Leila Yunus worked in the field of human rights, one might say, from her youth. We met her in 1989, when we had just dispersed rallies in Azerbaijan, pogroms in Sumgaiti passed. I came to Azerbaijan to understand how the Azerbaijani intelligentsia reacts to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. There I met a small group that organized the Popular Front there. The people there were very different, but it was Leila, Arif, Hikmet Hajizade, which was then the ambassador of Azerbaijan in Russia - this was a group, which was determined democratically, in support of human rights. And our relationship lasted for a very long time. That is why Leila was the only person who then agreed to be a correspondent of Express Chronicle, even then the Samizdat newspaper, from Azerbaijan. A year later, the pogroms broke into Baku, and then the army went, which did not restore order, but on the contrary, many civilians died as a result. And all this time we received regular information from Azerbaijan from Leila Yunus. I must say that even then it was life -threatening. Then in 1992, Leila and I organized the Armenian-Azerbaijani meeting of the intelligentsia, which was also in the midst of the conflict, and this also required courage. Then Leila and Arith organized a social structure - the Institute of Peace and Democracy was formed. There were a lot of persecution, there was a persecution of the children of those who actively acted in Azerbaijan - and the son of the Zurduce Alizade, and Hikmet Hajizade, then the daughter of Leila, who was forced to leave Azerbaijan, ask for refuge and get him in Europe. Well, the latter, apparently, that the authorities caused such a sharp reaction is the compilation of the list of Azerbaijani political prisoners. At first, a search was held as a reaction in the Yunusov’s house, then the arrest of both followed, first Leila, then Arifa, and a very strict handling of them in prison, especially Leila.

- How much is this list of political prisoners and how much did it produce a public outcry in Azerbaijan?

- He made a public resonance, of course, otherwise there would be no such reaction of the authorities. Now he was supplemented by the names of Leila and Arifa. It seems to me that when the persecution of the Yunus family began in April, the list consisted of 98 people, and now there are more than a hundred names, ”said human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkin.

The Azerbaijani Radio Liberty Service regularly publishes letters from Leila Yunus from the investigative insulator.

Among the nominees for the Sakharov Award this year is also a whole social movement, namely the movement for European integration of Ukraine, better known as Euromaidan. As noted in the report of the European Parliament, in the nomination it is represented by journalists Mustafa Nayem and Tatyana Chornovil , singer Ruslana Lyzhichko and activist Elizaveta Shepetilnikova.

Another candidate for Sakharov award is the gynecologist Denis Mukwege. He founded a hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to assist the victims of sexual violence, including victims of group rape. In 2013, Dr. Mukwege was called one of the possible laureates of the Nobel Prize of the World.

The Prize "For Freedom of Thought" - in the amount of 50 thousand euros, established by the European Parliament - is issued every year for achievements in the field of the struggle for human rights and freedom of expression. Sakharov Prize winner will be announced on October 16.