MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian human rights activist from the Memorial rights organization has received the 2013 Stieg Larsson prize, Memorial said Thursday.
Svetlana Gannushkina got the prize for her “persistent and courageous work in the field of human rights in Russia,” the prize organizers said in a press release, according to Memorial. The prize is to be awarded to Gannushkina, who also heads Russia’s Civic Assistance committee, in Stockholm on November 7.
The prize is worth $30,000 and is awarded annually to people and organizations “working in the spirit of Stieg Larsson,” according to the website stieglarsson.se. Larsson, who died in 2004, was a Swedish journalist, writer and anti-fascist campaigner who authored works on right-wing extremism, as well as creating the Millenium book trilogy – including “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” – for which he is best known.
“By defending the rights of migrants and forcibly displaced persons, she [Gannushkina] has played an important role in developing democracy in Russia,” Memorial cited the prize’s organizers as saying. “She supports the principle of equal rights and dignity of all people. This is absolutely in the spirit of Stieg Larsson.”
Last year, Newsweek magazine named Gannushkina one of the world’s 150 most fearless women.
