Russian group Memorial wins top EU rights prize

By Marcin Grajewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Parliament, in a move certain to irk Russia, awarded its top human rights prize on Thursday to Memorial, a group which campaigns against abuses of power in the countries of the former Soviet Union.

Announcing the award of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Memorial's leading activists, Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said the assembly hoped "to contribute to ending the circle of fear and violence surrounding human rights defenders in the Russian Federation."

Former Russian President Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, has sought to curb the activities of human rights groups. Some activists critical of the government have been murdered, kidnapped or beaten.

"We hope ... to advance our message that civil society activists everywhere must be free to exercise their most basic rights of freedom of thought," Buzek said.

The prize, named after late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was granted to activists Oleg Orlov, Sergei Kovalev and Lyudmila Alexeyeva on behalf of Memorial. It will be officially handed over on Dec. 16 during the parliament's session in Strasbourg.

Memorial describes itself on its website as a source of "information about the violation of human rights on the territory of the former Soviet Union".

"Memorial is the undertaking of risky observation missions to 'hot spots'," it adds.