Sakharov Prize 2009 awarded to Memorial

The European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought has been awarded this year to MEMORIAL (Oleg Orlov, Sergei Kovalev and Lyudmila Alexeyeva on behalf of the human rights organisation MEMORIAL and all other human rights defenders in Russia), EP President Jerzy Buzek announced on Thursday. The award ceremony will take place on 16 December in Strasbourg.

The Sakharov Prize is intended to honour exceptional individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression. Like Andrei Sakharov himself, all the winners of the prize have shown how much courage it takes to defend human rights and freedom of expression.