1988-1998|Laureates|Sakharov Prize

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1998, Kosovo </h3> <div style="display: none;" class="container"> <div class="boxcontent noborder"> <img class="half" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211im_/http://www.epgencms.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/upload/b47fec46-8ad1-46f9-8dda-36a7f4c6ce5e/20030610_Rugova_web.jpg" alt="" title="Copyright European Union"> <p class="caption_half">Copyright European Union</p> </img> <div class="smart_cms">Ibrahim Rugova 1944-2006) was a writer, academic and politician dedicated to a peaceful struggle for the independence of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. He served as the first President of Kosovo.<br><br>Born in Cerce, Kosovo, Rugova studied in Pristina and at the Sorbonne. He taught literature, authored 10 books and also presided over the Kosovo Writers' Union, which was at the heart of growing ethnic Albanian opposition to Serbian rule in Kosovo. In 1989 he founded the Democratic League of Kosovo, the first political party to challenge the communist regime directly, as Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milo拧evi膰 revoked Kosovo's autonomous region status and imposed Serbian control. <br><br>In the face of increasing oppression, Rugova headed the political movement that declared the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. In 1992, he was elected president of a republic recognised only by Albania. In the face of the subsequent Serbian crackdown he launched a system of education, hospitals and taxation for the ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo, parallel to the Serbian system.<br><br>A soft-spoken politician always wearing a trademark silk scarf, Rugova was seen throughout the 1990s as the moderate, intellectual face of Albanian opposition to the Belgrade regime. He secured a second term as president in 1998, even as the armed conflict between Serbian units and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an Albanian guerrilla movement, escalated, precipitating a major Yugoslav military crackdown.<br><br>The European Parliament honoured Rugova with the Sakharov Prize in 1998 as a man committed to the principle of peaceful resistance to violence. Rugova viewed it as representing 'for me and for all the people of Kosovo, recognition of our peaceful struggle and our sacrifices'.<br><br>He remained firm in his non-violent opposition to the Serbian regime, constantly reiterating his willingness to enter into dialogue with Belgrade, which put him at odds with the more nationalistic Adem Dema莽i, his principal political rival. The 'Gandhi of the Balkans' endeavoured to win over world opinion as he urged the international community to offer Kosovo protection.<br><br>Rugova, as chief of Kosovo's negotiators, signed the internationally brokered Rambouillet peace agreement on 18 March 1999, but Belgrade's refusal to endorse it led to the launch of NATO bombing attacks. As Kosovo came under UN administration, Rugova, having briefly left Kosovo for Italy in 1999, returned to Kosovar politics, sharing power with KLA leaders now at the helm of the Democratic Party. In 2002 Rugova was re-elected president and served till his death from lung cancer in 2006, just days before negotiations on Kosovo's final status were due to start. To many, he was the 'father of the nation'.<br><br></div> <div class="clear"></div> <ul class="link_collection_noborder"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/sakharov-prize-1997-award-ceremony-ibrahim-rugova---kosovo_EP071510-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">1998 Award ceremony </a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <h3 class="collapsible collapse-close" id="section2"> <span></span> Salima Ghezali - 1997, Algeria </h3> <div style="display: none;" class="container"> <div class="boxcontent noborder"> <img class="half" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211im_/http://www.epgencms.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/upload/b6da0c65-8de8-4b6e-873d-e2b632480ca8/Salima-Ghezali_Sakarov_068NEF_web.jpg" alt="" title="Copyright European Union 2013"> <p class="caption_half">Copyright European Union 2013</p> </img> <div class="smart_cms">Salima Ghezali is an Algerian journalist and writer, and an activist for women's rights and democracy in Algeria. Her courageous pacifist stance during the Algerian civil war came under fire from both the government and Islamists, and the Algerian weekly La Nation, of which she was editor-in-chief, was closed down by the authorities.<br><br>Currently the President of the Association for the Emancipation of Women, Ghezali became involved in the Algerian women's movement in the 1980s, as a founder member of Women of Europe and the Maghreb and as editor-in-chief of NYSSA, the women's publication she herself founded.<br><br>A teacher turned journalist, in 1994 she became editor-in-chief of the French language La Nation, the most widely read weekly in Algeria. Until its closure in 1996, La Nation was the only paper to criticise both the government and Islamist groups and to advocate political dialogue, human rights and freedom of expression for all sides engaged in the conflict. The 11-year civil war began in 1991 after the first multi-party elections in Algeria since independence were cancelled due to fears of an Islamist win, and cost the lives of tens of thousands of people.<br><br>Ghezali was part of a human rights community 'that seemed small and powerless', at the moment when her courageous defence of freedom of speech and her work for women's rights were recognised by the European Parliament in 1997. Ghezali turned a spotlight on the dramatic situation in Algeria following years of war, with millions of men, women and children living in fear as 'a double terror denies them the first freedom, the freedom to live'.<br><br>Ghezali resumed the publication of La Nation online in 2011 as the Arab Spring awakenings shook neighbouring countries, writing, 'we cannot be indifferent to the dynamics of the young people in the Arab world who are fighting for their dignity and freedom. We cannot be indifferent to what is happening in our country. We want the Algerian people to be happy, because they deserve it. We want strong institutions, better human resources in a real democracy and the rule of law'.<br><br>Since 2000 Ghezali has also been politically engaged as a member of the Front des Forces Socialistes (FFS, Socialist Forces Front) and advisor to historical FFS leader Hocine A茂t Ahmed. In 2012 she was elected to the Popular National Assembly, the Algerian lower chamber, as a representative of Algiers. She still holds this position as of today. <br><br>Together with fellow laureates Nurit Peled and Taslima Nasreen, she has published an opinion calling on 'leaders and representatives of the EU, to actively and openly encourage the Palestinian Authority to join the ICC'.<br><br></div> <div class="clear"></div> <ul class="link_collection_noborder"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/sakharov-prize-1997-award-ceremony-salima-ghezali---algeria_EP071505-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">1997 Award ceremony </a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <h3 class="collapsible collapse-close" id="section2"> <span></span> Wei Jingsheng - 1996, China </h3> <div style="display: none;" class="container"> <div class="boxcontent noborder"> <img class="half" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211im_/http://www.epgencms.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/upload/c07f64d5-0210-43f4-830c-4413b7652713/Wei-Jingsheng_Sakarov_044NEF_web.jpg" alt="" title="Copyright European Union 2013"> <p class="caption_half">Copyright European Union 2013</p> </img> <div class="smart_cms">Wei Jingsheng, the 'father of the Chinese democracy movement', lives in exile but remains an active leader of the opposition to the Communist regime in China.<br><br>Wei is the author of The Courage to stand alone: Letters from prison and other writings, a set of articles he initially wrote in prison on toilet paper, now published in more than a dozen languages.<br><br>He was sentenced to jail twice, for 29 years in total, and served more than 18 years for his activities and writings in support of democracy, including his ground breaking 1978 essay The fifth modernisation: democracy. This manifesto began as a signed wall poster on the Democracy Wall in Beijing, on which workers, artists and intellectuals exercised their freedom of expression. Wei's essay caused a sensation, not only because it openly assaulted the 'people's democratic dictatorship' of the Communists, but also because he dared to sign it with both his real name and contact information.<br><br>Writing in 1979 in Exploration, an underground magazine Wei founded and edited, he wrote an article entitled 'Democracy or a new dictatorship?' identifying Deng Xiaoping, then Communist leader, as the new dictator. Arrested within days, Wei was convicted of 'counter-revolution' and jailed for 15 years. He was on death row, then in solitary confinement, then in forced labour camps under strict supervision until 1993, when he was released due to China's decision to apply to host the 2000 Olympic Games.<br><br>Wei was arrested a second time within 6 months of his release, tried again, convicted of 'counter-revolution' and sentenced to another 14 years of jail. At the time of his Sakharov Prize award in 1996 he was still in prison. In 1997, after overwhelming international pressure, including from then U.S. President Bill Clinton, Wei was taken from his cell and promptly deported to the United States. He maintains he was not freed but that his exile is, rather, further punishment. From Washington, Wei leads the Wei Jinsheng Foundation, the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition and the Asia Democracy Alliance, continuing to be an active and strong voice for democracy and human rights in China<br><br></div> <div class="clear"></div> <ul class="link_collection_noborder"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/sakharov-prize-1996-award-ceremony-wei-jingsheng-in-absentia---china-_EP071354-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">1996 Award ceremony </a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <h3 class="collapsible collapse-close" id="section2"> <span></span> Leyla Zana - 1995, Turkey </h3> <div style="display: none;" class="container"> <div class="boxcontent noborder"> <img class="half" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211im_/http://www.epgencms.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/upload/fc29cbfb-545b-4cdd-9979-b831e0f9a7c3/2010-02-04-Leyla-Zana-3_web.jpg" alt="" title="Copyright European Union 2010"> <p class="caption_half">Copyright European Union 2010</p> </img> <div class="smart_cms">In 1991 Leyla Zana became the first Kurdish woman elected to the Turkish parliament, later serving over 10 years in prison for her pro-Kurdish political activism. In June 2015 she again made history as a member of the first pro-Kurdish political party to win representation in the Turkish assembly, with an agenda of peace and inclusion of minorities.<br><br>Born in 1961, she attended elementary school for only a year and a half because she was stopped by her traditionalist father. At the age of 14 she was married to Mehdi Zana, a man 20 years her senior, who became the mayor of Diyarbakir and later became a political prisoner during the military rule in the 1980s. Leyla Zana was imprisoned for 2 months after leading a protest of prisoners' families who were prohibited from visiting their relatives in prison. She learnt Turkish as a result of her visits to her husband in prison, as security forces used violence against anyone speaking Kurdish. Starting school at the age of 23, Zana earned primary and secondary diplomas in 3 years and eventually took on an unsolicited leadership role.<br><br>Overwhelmingly elected to the Turkish assembly in 1991, she took her oath in Kurdish in her swearing-in ceremony, at a time when speaking Kurdish in the public arena was still a criminal offence: 'I take this oath for the brotherhood between the Turkish people and the Kurdish people.' For this she was stripped of parliamentary immunity, and in 1994 she was sentenced to 15 years of incarceration for 'treason and membership in the armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)'. At her sentencing, Zana asserted: 'I don't accept any of these accusations, and if they were true I'd assume responsibility for them, even if it cost me my life. I have defended democracy, human rights and brotherhood between peoples and I'll keep doing so for as long as I live.' In 1995 she was chosen by the European Parliament for the award of the Sakharov Prize as a symbol of the peaceful struggle for human rights and dignity of the Kurdish people.<br><br>In 2004, Zana was finally able to address the European Parliament upon her release from prison on a technicality following a European Court of Human Rights ruling and international pressure.<br><br>Zana has since had various court cases brought against her, but has not served further jail time. In 2014 the Supreme Court of Appeals found that evidence of Zana's alleged membership of the PKK was 'not credible'.<br><br>In 2009 she was handed a 5-year ban from joining any political party, but was nevertheless re-elected as an independent in 2011. Once her ban expired in 2014 she joined the Peoples' Democratic Party, which in the June 2015 elections became the first pro-Kurdish party to surpass the 10 % threshold for parliamentary representation. She was elected to a seat in the Turkish Parliament, but in 2016 she was prevented from attending the Parliament's sessions, again because she swore her oath of office in Kurdish and she included a call for peace in the wording of the oath. In 2018 she was removed from office by a majority vote, due to her failure to attend the daily work of the Parliament.<br><br>Zana was actively involved in the peace negotiations that led PKK leader Abdullah 脰calan to make his historic call in 2013 for the party to move from armed resistance to democratic political struggle after three decades of conflict.<br><br></div> <div class="clear"></div> <ul class="link_collection_noborder"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/sakharov-prize-1995-award-ceremony-leyla-zana-turkey_EP071352-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">1995 Award ceremony </a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <h3 class="collapsible collapse-close" id="section2"> <span></span> Taslima Nasreen - 1994, Bangladesh </h3> <div style="display: none;" class="container"> <div class="boxcontent noborder"> <img class="half" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211im_/http://www.epgencms.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/upload/4e10a3c6-eecc-40df-93ba-87b00f74012d/Taslima-Nasreen_Sakarov_171NEF_web.jpg" alt="" title="Copyright European Union 2013"> <p class="caption_half">Copyright European Union 2013</p> </img> <div class="smart_cms">Taslima Nasreen, a bestselling Bangladeshi writer, has been living in exile since 1994, driven out of her country by religious extremists because of her writings and her secular views.<br><br>Born in Bangladesh in 1962, Taslima Nasreen started writing when she was 13. She is known for her powerful works on the oppression of women and her unflinching criticism of religion, despite her forced exile and the multiple fatwas calling for her death. She is an award-winning author whose writings have been translated into 30 different languages.<br><br>Nasreen studied medicine and practised gynaecology in Bangladesh. Following the publication of Lajja in 1993, she was criticised by Islamic fundamentalists and several hundred thousand people demonstrated against her books. After spending 2 months in hiding, at the end of 1994 she escaped to Sweden. A secular humanist and human rights activist living in exile, she abandoned the medical profession and focused on writing. Owing to her thoughts and ideas, some of her books are banned in Bangladesh, and she herself is barred from Bengal. She was also forced out of West Bengal in eastern India in 2011, which she regards as her second home, by a fatwa issued by Kolkata clerics.<br><br>When she won the 1994 Sakharov Prize she had already sought refuge in Europe, living in exile in France and then in Sweden. In her acceptance speech she said she came from a part of the world where social tensions and human difficulties were unbearable and, as a writer, she could not close her eyes to the daily suffering and starvation.<br><br>A campaigner against extremism in all religions, Nasreen has urged support for the secular movements in Bangladesh to counteract the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. Together with fellow Sakharov laureates Nurit Peled and Salima Ghezali, Nasreen has also published an opinion calling on 'leaders and representatives of the EU, to actively and openly encourage the Palestinian Authority to join the ICC'.<br><br>In 2015 she wrote publicly of the need to reform and modernise Islam in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris. She stated that 'principles of freedom of expression alone won't do any good. One has to know what mantra makes terrorists tick and influences them to take up arms. It is important to stop the indoctrination of children with irrational religious faith at home or institutions like madrassas or mosques.' <br><br>In 2018, her book "Split: A Life" was published in English. The book, originally written in Bengali, was banned in Bangladesh for allegedly hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community. She is vocal and active on education and gender equality.  <br><br></div> <div class="clear"></div> <ul class="link_collection_noborder"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/sakharov-prize-1994-award-ceremony-taslima-nasreen---bangladesh_EP071332-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">1994 Award ceremony </a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <h3 class="collapsible collapse-close" id="section2"> <span></span> Oslobodjenje - 1993, Bosnia and Herzegovina </h3> <div style="display: none;" class="container"> <div class="boxcontent noborder"> <img class="half" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211im_/http://www.epgencms.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/upload/92a5c4f0-b69e-474d-b236-b168591c84f2/oslobodjenje-faksimil-prve-strane-6.-aprila-92_web.jpg" alt="" title="Copyright Oslobodjenje"> <p class="caption_half">Copyright Oslobodjenje</p> </img> <div class="smart_cms">Oslobo膽enje is a Bosnian daily newspaper. Its name means 'liberation', and it gave a lifeline to people caught in the siege of Sarajevo between 1992 and 1996 during the war in the former Yugoslavia. All the while, it managed to go to print every single day except one.<br><br>Oslobo膽enje employed Bosnians, Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats. Not one of them left the newspaper when war broke out, even though they could have done so. They stayed and fought to maintain the unity and ethnic diversity of their city and their country. They proved that it wasn't impossible for Serbs, Croats and Muslims to live together in peace.<br><br>By the end of the war, of the 75 courageous journalists who risked their lives day after day, five were killed and 25 wounded. All suffered personal tragedies, including the deaths of their loved ones. Oslobo膽enje's offices, located in one of Sarajevo's most dangerous combat zones, were reduced to rubble. The staff moved into a bomb shelter, improvising power generators from old Lada engines and crossing Snipers' Alley every day on the way to work, with gunners so close by they could hear them chatting and singing.<br><br>'Our efforts were directed against death and against the partition or even complete eradication of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the map,' said Zlatko Dizdarevi膰, one of the editors at the time.<br><br>Oslobo膽enje's staff made their daily work a symbol of their resistance. Journalists delivered newspapers when the drivers found it too dangerous, and when Oslobo膽enje's network of 700 kiosks throughout Bosnia was burned down, the news pages were cut and faxed, then glued together so citizens in other battered cities like Mostar could read them.<br><br>Oslobo膽enje's staff were named International Editors of the Year for 1993 by the World Press Review for their 'bravery, tenacity, and dedication to the principles of journalism'. They went on to win several other journalism awards.<br><br>In 2006 the paper was acquired by two of the city's largest businesses. According to Oslobo膽enje's website, while the organisation has changed a great deal, its 'commitment to liberty and justice remains strong'.<br><br></div> <div class="clear"></div> <ul class="link_collection_noborder"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/sakharov-prize-1993-award-ceremony-oslobodjenje-bosnia-and-herzegovina-_EP071327-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">1993 Award ceremony </a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <h3 class="collapsible collapse-close" id="section2"> <span></span> Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo - 1992, Argentina </h3> <div style="display: none;" class="container"> <div class="boxcontent noborder"> <img class="half" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211im_/http://www.epgencms.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/upload/fde74e3f-2838-4871-8f68-128abdc0c53a/MADRES_PLAZA_MAYO_1_web.jpg" alt="" title="Copyright European Union 1992"> <p class="caption_half">Copyright European Union 1992</p> </img> <div class="smart_cms">Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo was born out of the attempt, by several Argentinian mothers, to find their 'disappeared' children during Argentina's Dirty War (1976-1983), when the military regime abducted, tortured and killed thousands of political opponents, stealing children born to prisoners and obliterating any trace of its victims.<br><br>Las Madres, mainly apolitical housewives, were the ones who dared to protest against the military at the height of the dictatorship and, after the fall of the regime, they called for judging officials involved in the repression, hundreds of whom have been found guilty. The movement was launched on 30 April 1977, as 14 mothers staged the first protest in the Plaza de Mayo, in front of the presidential Casa Rosada. Although they were ordered to disperse, the courageous mothers began to walk slowly arm-in-arm around the square. Every week more mothers joined the protests, as more left-wing activists and people accused of collaborating with them were 'disappeared'.<br><br>Las Madres, with their emblematic white scarves, the photos and names of their disappeared children and pleas to have them back, began to attract international attention, so the regime killed three of its founders in an attempt to stop Las Madres' activities. In December 1977 Azucena Villaflor de Vincenti, Mary Ponce de Bianco and Esther Ballestrino de Careaga were abducted, tortured and thrown from a plane into their death. Other members of Las Madres were beaten and detained but continued their peaceful resistance. Las Madres turned their focus to demanding justice as the massive human rights abuses, a plunging economy and the loss of the Falklands War brought an end to the military regime in 1983.<br><br>Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo split in 1986, as the main association, headed by Hebe de Bonafini, refused to acknowledge the death of Argentinian dissidents until those responsible for their murder were brought to justice, while a seceding group, called the Founding Line, focused on the recovery of the victims' remains. <br><br>In 1992, when the European Parliament recognised Las Madres de Plazo de Mayo with the Sakharov Prize, the association fiercely resisted the end of the trials concerning the abuses of the dictatorship. <br><br>Hebe de Bonafini, who was elected leader of the undivided Madres in 1979 and is still leading the association, accepted the Sakharov Prize award on behalf of the mothers' children 'who were the first to struggle for freedom'. Las Madres used the prize's purse to finance their various social initiatives, which include the Universidad Popular Madres de Plaza de Mayo.<br><br>Las Madres continue their Thursday march in the Plaza de Mayo, accompanied by crowds of supporters, while questions remain over the fate of their missing children.<br><br></div> <div class="clear"></div> <ul class="link_collection_noborder"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/sakharov-prize-1992-award-ceremony-las-madres-de-plaza-de-mayo---argentina-_EP071319-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">1992 Award ceremony </a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <h3 class="collapsible collapse-close" id="section2"> <span></span> Adem Dema莽i - 1991, Kosovo </h3> <div style="display: none;" class="container"> <div class="boxcontent noborder"> <img class="half" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211im_/http://www.epgencms.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/upload/af8fe3c6-f5c7-40db-a894-ee4efb659a54/Demaci_web.jpg" alt="" title="Copyright European Union"> <p class="caption_half">Copyright European Union</p> </img> <div class="smart_cms">Adem Dema莽i is a symbol of the struggle for Kosovo's independence. Involved as a senior leader in the country's politics for many years, he was also a long-time political prisoner who spent a total of 28 years in jail for speaking out against the treatment of ethnic Albanians and criticising communism under Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito.<br><br>A writer born in Pri拧tina, Kosovo, in 1936, Dema莽i published his first short stories when he was still in secondary school. He went on to study literature, law and education and to publish, between 1953 and 1958, around 20 short stories and a novel entitled The snakes of blood, which gained him literary fame. Dema莽i's writings led to his first arrest in 1958. Thereafter, up to 1990, Dema莽i spent a great deal of his life in prison for fighting for the fundamental rights of the Albanians in Kosovo. He was given recognition by the human rights community as a prisoner of conscience and became known at the 'Mandela of the Balkans'. After his release, Dema莽i took on the leadership of the Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms.<br><br>In 1991 Dema莽i was awarded the Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament for integrity in his opposition to 'an authoritarian and intolerant regime'. Dema莽i, accepting the prize as homage to the people of Kosovo, stated that 'freedom of speech is the first, crucial step towards democracy. Without freedom of speech there is no dialogue, without dialogue the truth cannot be established, and without the truth progress is impossible.'<br><br>Dema莽i embarked on a political career in 1996, joining the Parliamentary Party of Kosovo and becoming its chair. He called for open protests against the Serbian regime on the grounds that non-violence does not mean passivity. He began a visible, yet non-violent protest campaign against Serbian rule, calling on Kosovars to stand still in the streets for 1 minute at precisely the same time. As the head of the second-largest party in Kosovo, Dema莽i refused to run against his main rival, Ibrahim Rugova, in elections scheduled in 1998, feeling it was not appropriate 'to play political games' whilst armed conflict escalated with Serbia as it cracked down on Kosovo.<br><br>Dema莽i joined the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) as its political representative in 1998, having come to believe that the policy of nonviolence was not achieving freedom for Kosovo's people, who, he held, had a right to resist the harsh repression they were under. Dema莽i left the KLA in 1999 in protest at its decision to attend the Rambouillet peace talks to end the conflict with Serbia. Dema莽i criticised the deal proposed for failing to guarantee Kosovo's independence.<br><br>He stayed in Kosovo during the conflict reignited by the failure of the talks in 1999, and criticised other leaders, including Rugova, for leaving the country at a historic moment. Dema莽i described Kosovo during the war as 'the biggest prison in Europe'. He was himself arrested twice by the Serbian authorities.<br><br>After the war he devoted himself mainly to ethnic reconciliation and the return of refugees. Dema莽i became chair of the Committee for Mutual Understanding, Tolerance and Coexistence, representing all ethnic groups in Kosovo, 'because Kosovo belongs to everyone' and 'we want a free, democratic and multi-ethnic society'.<br><br>Dema莽i died in July 2018 at the age of 82 in Prishtina. His death was marked in Kosovo by three days of national mourning.<br></div> <div class="clear"></div> <ul class="link_collection_noborder"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/sakharov-prize-1991-award-ceremony-adem-demai-kosovo-_EP071187-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">1991 Award ceremony </a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <h3 class="collapsible collapse-close" id="section2"> <span></span> Aung San Suu Kyi - 1990, Burma/Myanmar </h3> <div style="display: none;" class="container"> <div class="boxcontent noborder"> <img class="half" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211im_/http://www.epgencms.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/upload/904912de-6372-441e-8ee3-74e93a3825de/Portrait Aung SAN SUU KYI.jpg" alt="" title="Copyright European Union 2013"> <p class="caption_half">Copyright European Union 2013</p> </img> <div class="smart_cms">Aung San Suu Kyi's leadership of Myanmar's pro-democracy struggle was recognised by the Sakharov Prize in 1990. Twenty-three years later, on 22 October 2013, Aung San Suu Kyi was finally able to receive the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in person.<br><br>In a ceremony at the European Parliament, the long-time political prisoner made a vigorous case for democratic values, emphasising that Myanmar's transition towards them remains far from complete. She said that the constitution ensured a privileged role for the military. This should be changed in order to guarantee the right of citizens of Myanmar to 'live in accordance with their conscience' and to 'shape their own destiny'. She called for the support of the international community to the development of democracy and human rights in Myanmar, and acknowledged the European Parliament's long-standing support for her cause.<br><br>Daughter of Aung San, a national hero of independent Myanmar who was assassinated when she was 2 years old, and Khin Kyi, a prominent diplomat of Myanmar, Suu Kyi witnessed a brutal crackdown on protesters opposing U Ne Win's military regime when she returned to Myanmar to nurse her dying mother in 1988. The massacres led Suu Kyi, known as 'The Lady', to begin her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights. In 1990 Suu Kyi led her National League for Democracy to an overwhelming victory in the country's election, but the military junta not only refused to hand over power but cracked down on the League's supporters with arrests and bloody reprisals.<br><br>Suu Kyi spent most of the following two decades after 1990 in prison or under house arrest, and during this time the authorities refused her British husband a visa to visit her in Myanmar, despite the fact that he was diagnosed with cancer in 1997. The government urged her to leave the country instead, but she refused, anticipating that she would not be allowed to return. She did not see her husband again. He died in 1999. 'The Lady' was still under house arrest during Myanmar's first elections in two decades in 2010, but was released 6 days later.<br><br>Suu Kyi ran for office in the parliamentary elections of April 2012, in which her party won 43 out of the 45 open seats. As opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi campaigned for a change in the country's constitution to enable her to stand for the presidential election, from which she was barred by a provision ruling out candidates with strong ties to a foreign national. Suu Kyi's sons are British.<br><br>In 2015 the National League for Democracy won a majority in the presidential elections. Since Aung San Suu Kyi was constitutionally barred from becoming president, her long-time ally Htin Kyaw took up the role in March 2016, although Suu Kyi announced she would be 'above the president', and took up the role of Minister for Foreign Affairs.<br><br>Since 2016, Suu Kyi has come into heavy criticism from the international community due to her unwillingness to intervene in or denounce the persecution of the Rohingya minority, which resides in the Rakhine State, by Myanmar's military.<br></div> <div class="clear"></div> <ul class="link_collection_noborder"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/sakharov-prize-1990-award-ceremony-aung-san-suu-kyi-burmamyanmar-in-absentia_EP071066-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">1990 Award ceremony </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/plenary/video?debate=1382436615693" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">2013 Award ceremony </a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <h3 class="collapsible collapse-close" id="section2"> <span></span> Alexander Dub膷ek - 1989, Slovakia </h3> <div style="display: none;" class="container"> <div class="boxcontent noborder"> <img class="half" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211im_/http://www.epgencms.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/upload/f25d639a-998d-4f72-90cf-b7829a751f9a/Portrait DUBCEK.jpg" alt="" title="Copyright European Union"> <p class="caption_half">Copyright European Union</p> </img> <div class="smart_cms">Alexander Dub膷ek (1921-1992) was the leading figure in the reform movement known as the Prague Spring in 1968 Czechoslovakia.<br><br>The son of a family committed to building socialism in the Soviet Union, in 1939 he secretly joined the Communist Party and the underground resistance against the pro-German Slovak state.<br><br>In 1968 Dub膷ek, a devoted communist, became the new First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and sought to liberalise the Communist regime. He began a series of reforms, granting greater freedom of expression to the press, rehabilitating victims of the Stalin-era political purges and initiating economic reforms and a wide-ranging democratisation of Czechoslovak political life. However, his reforms raised concern in Moscow and his endeavours to give socialism a human face were shattered on 21 August 1968 when Warsaw Pact tanks seized control of Prague. Dub膷ek was kidnapped by the KGB, taken to the Kremlin and briefly detained.<br><br>In 1970 he was accused of treason, stripped of office and expelled from the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. For 15 years he lived as an ordinary worker and only returned to political life as a civil rights activist in 1988.<br><br>When he was awarded the Sakharov Prize on 22 November 1989 Dub膷ek was still a citizen deprived of his human rights, but just a few days later, on 28 November, Czechoslovakia's Communist Party relinquished its hold on power, toppled by the Velvet Revolution.<br><br>'I am convinced that the 'breath of freedom' which the Czechs and the Slovaks enjoyed when Dub膷ek was their leader was a prologue to the peaceful revolutions now taking place in eastern Europe and Czechoslovakia itself,' Andrei Sakharov wrote in a message to the European Parliament on 10 December 1989, just 4 days before he died.<br><br>After the 1989 revolution in Czechoslovakia, Dub膷ek was elected chair of the federal assembly from 1989 to 1992. Addressing the European Parliament in January 1990 as he received his Sakharov Prize, Dub膷ek noted that 'even during the most difficult moments of their history, the nations which make up my country have never ceased to feel that they are part of humanity's great struggle for freedom' and from the Prague Spring to the Velvet Revolution, 'the ideals of freedom, sovereignty and social justice remained alive'.<br><br>Alexander Dub膷ek died in a car accident in 1992.<br><br></div> <div class="clear"></div> <ul class="link_collection_noborder"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/sakharov-prize-1989-award-ceremony-alexander-dubek---1989-slovakia-_EP071058-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">1989 Award ceremony </a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <h3 class="collapsible collapse-close" id="section2"> <span></span> Anatoli Marchenko (posthumously) - 1988, Russia </h3> <div style="display: none;" class="container"> <div class="boxcontent noborder"> <img class="half" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211im_/http://www.epgencms.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/upload/0aae5c56-a742-4bad-ba0f-d5b745e219b1/EN_01098841_0019_marchenko_web.jpg" alt="" title="Copyright Sakharov Institute in Moscow"> <p class="caption_half">Copyright Sakharov Institute in Moscow</p> </img> <div class="smart_cms">Anatoli Marchenko蝿s heroic life and his work represent an enormous contribution to the causes of democracy, humanism and justice,' Andrei Sakharov himself wrote to the European Parliament, recommending him for the prize. <br><br>Anatoli Marchenko (1938-1986) was one of the former Soviet Union's best-known dissidents. He died in Chistopol prison following a 3-month-long hunger strike for the release of all Soviet prisoners of conscience. Marchenko was only 48 years old when he died, but had spent over 20 years in prison and internal exile. The international outcry following his death was a major factor in finally pushing Mikhail Gorbachev, then Secretary-General of the Communist Party, to authorise the large-scale release of political prisoners in 1987.<br><br>Marchenko became widely known through My testimony, an autobiographical book on his time in Soviet labour camps and prison, which he wrote in 1966. This book, copied by hand by the dissident underground and later published in the West, was the first in which the camps and prisons of the post-Stalin period were discussed, awakening the world to the reality that the Gulag had not ended with Stalin.<br><br>Its publication landed Marchenko in prison again for anti-Soviet propaganda, but before being re-incarcerated in 1968 he openly became a dissident, publicly denouncing jail conditions for political prisoners. He warned in an open letter to the media in July 1968 that the Soviet Union would not allow the Prague Spring to continue, a prediction which came true in August as Warsaw Pact tanks rumbled into Czechoslovakia, and Marchenko was once again sentenced to prison and then to exile.<br><br>The greater the repression, though, the stronger Marchenko's will to act became. He became one of the founders of the influential Moscow Helsinki Group, together with Andrei Sakharov and current leader Lyudmila Alexeyeva. The group was founded in 1976 to monitor the Soviet Union's compliance with the human rights clauses of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, the first act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, meant to improve relations between the Communist bloc and the West.<br><br>He was arrested and jailed for the last time in 1980 for publishing his final book To live like everyone. He did not survive his 15-year sentence. His death in prison was never publicly investigated.<br><br>His widow, Larissa Bogoraz, herself an activist and a Sakharov Prize nominee, received the prize on his behalf, which was awarded to him posthumously in 1988, the year the European Parliament created the Sakharov Prize.<br><br></div> <div class="clear"></div> <ul class="link_collection_noborder"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/sakharov-prize-1988-award-ceremony-anatoli-marchenko-posthumously-and-nelson-rolihlahla-mandela-in-absentia_EP071041-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">1988 Award ceremony </a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <h3 class="collapsible collapse-close" id="section2"> <span></span> Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela - 1988, South Africa </h3> <div style="display: none;" class="container"> <div class="boxcontent noborder"> <img class="half" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211im_/http://www.epgencms.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/upload/7b5e0d38-082c-4117-965a-4f51f67460e0/19900600_Mandela-8_web.jpg" alt="" title="Copyright European Union"> <p class="caption_half">Copyright European Union</p> </img> <div class="smart_cms">'What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made in the lives of others', Nelson Mandela once said.<br><br>Nelson Mandela died on 5 December 2013 at his home in Johannesburg, at the age of 95. His passing was met with a worldwide outpouring of grief but also with celebration of a life dedicated to freedom, democracy and equality. <br><br>Along with Soviet dissident Anatoly Marchenko, he was the first to be awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize in 1988. At the time he was still being kept under house arrest by South Africa's apartheid regime, which imprisoned him for 27 years for his fight against racism.<br><br>Mandela was an active member of the African National Congress, and a co-founder of South Africa's first black law firm. He became more militant as apartheid grew more oppressive. He was condemned to life in prison in 1964 and finally released in 1990, as the apartheid regime began to buckle under international and domestic pressure.<br><br>Shortly after his release, Mandela spoke to the European Parliament of the need for a just and lasting solution to transform South Africa into a 'united, democratic and non-racial country'. Anything less would be 'an insult to the memory of the countless patriots in South Africa and the rest of our region, who have sacrificed their very lives, to bring us to the moment today when we can confidently say that the end of the apartheid system is in sight.'During the 1990s Mandela led South Africa's transition from apartheid to a racially inclusive democracy. As president, from 1994-1999, he championed 'truth and reconciliation' as the path to peace.<br><br>On his death in 2013 tributes flowed, including from the European Parliament. 'South Africa today loses its father, the world loses a hero. I pay tribute to one of the greatest humans of our time. Nelson Mandela dies today, but his legacy will last forever,' European Parliament President Martin Schulz said.<br><br>In the words of Kofi Annan, 'Nelson Mandela led a singular life of sacrifice, dignity and political genius that brought about the peaceful end of one of the great evils of modern times.<br><br></div> <div class="clear"></div> <ul class="link_collection_noborder"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/sakharov-prize-1988-award-ceremony-anatoli-marchenko-posthumously-and-nelson-rolihlahla-mandela-in-absentia_EP071041-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">Award ceremony 1988 </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/mandela_EP073520_1-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Open in a new window" target="_blank">Nelson Mandela visiting the European Institutions in the 1990s - Part I </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/mandela_EP073520_2-V_rv" class="link_media" title="Go to the page">Nelson Mandela visiting the European Institutions in the 1990s - Part II </a></li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="clear"></div> <div class="boxheader_blue"><h3>Other laureates</h3></div> <div class="boxcontent"> <ul class="element_list"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sakharovprize/en/laureates/since-2010.html" class="link_website" title="Go to the page">Since 2010 </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190807093211/http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sakharovprize/en/laureates/1999-2009.html" class="link_website" title="Go to the page">1999-2009 </a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="clear"></div> </div>  <div id="content_right" class="grid_7"> </div>  </div> </div> </div> </div>   <div id="footer" class="new"> <div 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1988-1998|Laureates|Sakharov Prize