Tolokonnikova, Samutsevich and Alyokhina, members of female punk band "Pussy Riot", attend their trial inside the defendents' cell in a court in Moscow in 2012. |
OSLO -
Russian rights group Agora, which played a key role in freeing one of the
jailed members of punk protest band Pussy Riot, won Norway's prestigious Rafto
Prize for rights defenders Thursday.
An Agora
lawyer, Irina Khrunova, helped secure the release of Yekaterina Samutsevich,
who was sentenced to two years in jail in 2012 for the feminist group's
"punk prayer" protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's
Orthodox cathedral.
"The
award is a recognition of their relentless and professional work to defend the
right to fair trial and other human rights in a Russia where organisations and
individuals are subjected to increasing pressure from the country's
authorities," Bergen-based Rafto Foundation said.
"More
than 20 years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of
the Cold War, but hopes for a more democratic Russia are now beginning to
fade." The Agora Association - a network of 35 lawyers across Russia - was
founded by human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov in 2005.
It provides
legal help to victims - mainly activists, bloggers and journalists - of
suspected abuses by the Russian authorities including the police, prisons and
military.
The group
was forced to turn down $20,000 (S$25,380 euros) in prize money, according to
the Rafto foundation due to a 2012 law - which Agora has challenged in the
courts - that requires organisations with international funding to register as
"foreign agents".
"Russian
authorities are actively using legislation to silence critics. In July 2014,
Agora was labelled a 'foreign agent' by the Russian Department of Justice
because they receive financial support from other countries and are allegedly
engaged in political activity," the Rafto Foundation said in a statement.
"The
situation for Russia's civil society is now precarious. The country's
authorities are facing a cross road, where the question at stake is whether to
continue in a anti-democratic direction or not," added Paulsen.
The annual
Rafto award was founded in 1986 in memory of Norwegian economic history
professor Thorolf Rafto, a longtime human rights activist.
The prize,
which is often awarded to relatively unknown human rights defenders, will be
presented on November 2 in the western Norwegian town of Bergen.
Four past
Rafto Prize laureates - Aung San Suu Kyi, Jose Ramos-Horta, Kim Dae-Jung and
Shirin Ebadi - went on to win to Nobel Peace Prize, whose laureate for 2014
will be announced in Oslo on November 10.
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