The short-list for the Sakharov prize to be announced today

One of the nominees is a Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski.

Among the nominees for the Andrei Sakharov “Freedom of thought” prize there is also the Russian punk band Pussy Riot and six more human rights activists from around the world.

The voting for the finalists will be held in Strasbourg. From the nominees three will be selected, Radio Svaboda reports.

We would remind that the human rights activist Ales Bialiatski was sentenced for 4,5 years in prison for tax evasion in November 2011. Bialitski didn’t admit his guilt and claimed that all the money he received on his accounts was used for the human rights activities. The EU, the US and international human rights organizations consider Bialiatski a political prisoner and demand his release.