Rights prize winner urges EU to pressure Russia

Russian activist Sergei Kovalev urged the EU to put pressure on Moscow to respect human rights, as he received the Sakharov prize.

STRASBOURG, December 16, 2009 (AFP) - Russian activist Sergei Kovalev urged the EU to put pressure on Moscow to respect human rights, as he received the prestigious Sakharov prize from the European parliament on Wednesday.

"Europe's task is to not remain silent, but to always insist that Russia respects its obligations" on human rights, Kovalev told the parliament in Strasbourg.

"To not call on Russia to do so would be interpreted as indulgence by the Russian authorities. That would be bad for Russia and for Europe as a whole," the 79-year-old former Soviet prisoner warned.

Europe's policy towards Moscow should be "firm and friendly" so that Russia respects fundamental freedoms, he added.

The EU parliament's Polish president, Jerzy Buzek, declared himself "proud" that the members of the European parliament had decided to honour Kovalev, a member of the Memorial group, Oleg Orlev, its founder, and 82-year-old dissident Lyudmila Alexeyeva.

"Human rights defenders in Russia are awaiting liberty, they are waiting for European Union support, and we are awarding this prize today to all Russian citizens," said Buzek.

The prize was also awarded in memory of murdered activist Natalya Estemirova.

Estemirova, 50, a vocal critic of human rights abuses in Chechnya, was found dead in the Republic of Ingushetia in Russia's southern Caucasus region in July, after being kidnapped in neighbouring Chechnya the same day.

She was a close associate of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was assassinated in 2006 in Moscow.

Memorial, founded in 1989, the year the Iron Curtain fell, keeps a spotlight on the crimes of the Soviet Union and more recently during Russia's conflicts in its breakaway republic of Chechnya.

"Sometimes we feel like we have to empty the sea with a spoon... This prize will give us strength," Orlov said.

In its dialogue with Moscow the European Union should put human rights on the same footing as other issues, like energy, he said.

Europe should also insist that Moscow ends its culture of "impunity" over atrocities in Chechnya, said Kovalev.

"Russia pays victims the compensation ordered by the European human rights court, it's a sort of impunity tax. And it refuses to investigate crimes and punish the guilty," he added.

According to him not only do Russian officers named in the court escape punishment, they are actually "rewarded with a promotion".

The Sakharov Prize, named after late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, is in its 21st year.

It comes with a cash award of 50,000 euros (64,150 dollars).

Chinese dissident Hu Jia, a campaigner for civil rights, environmental protection and AIDS advocacy, won the prize last year.

Previous winners also include Nelson Mandela, Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi and former United Nations chief Kofi Annan.