The Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought has been awarded to the Russian human rights organisation Memorial.

Memorial was set up in 1989 by Soviet dissidents and the Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov, for whom the prize is named. Memorial works to promote democracy in Russian and in countries that were once members of the Soviet Union.

In July, Memorial worker Natalya Estemirova was murdered in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. She had once worked with Russian journalist and human rights campaigner Anna Politkovskaya, who was herself murdered in 2006.

The Sakharov Prize is awarded every year by the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Photo of Andrei Sakharov in 1943 from Wikimedia Commons