Russia's most famous human rights activist dies at 91

[JonLP24]

NATION & WORLD
Russia’s most famous human rights activist dies at 91
BY JIM HEINTZ AND MATTHEW BODNER ASSOCIATED PRESS

DECEMBER 08, 2018 12:16 PM,

UPDATED DECEMBER 08, 2018 12:17 PM


MOSCOW
Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a human rights pioneer and dissident who challenged the Soviet and Russian regimes for decades, demanding that they free political prisoners and establish democratic rights, died Saturday in a Moscow hospital, a Russian official said. She was 91.

"She remained a human rights activist to the very end," said Mikhail Fedotov, head of Russia's Human Rights Council. "This is a loss for the entire human rights movement in Russia."

The gentle but courageous activist was born under dictator Josef Stalin's regime. She risked her own freedom to protest the plight of political prisoners in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s and co-founded the Moscow Helsinki Group, Russia's oldest human rights organization, in 1976.

Alexeyeva faced death threats throughout her career and was forced into exile by Soviet authorities in 1977.

https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nation-world/article222851820.html

[MaryMagdaline]

1. RIP