Chairman of the Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO Grigory Yavlinsky has been nominated for the Freedom Prize established by Liberal International. Since 1985 the prize has been granted annually for “consistent defence of the principles of democracy and human rights.”

The decision to nominate Yavlinsky for the prize was adopted on June 26, 2002, in Strasburg at a meeting of the Liberals, Democrats and Reformers Group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The Group has 90 PACE members from 30 countries: the Group is also a member of Liberal International.

The Executive Committee of Liberal International will decide who will be granted the Freedom Prize. Its meeting is scheduled for September 27-28, 2002 in Gibraltar.

The laureates of the Freedom Prize of the previous years are President of Argentina Raul Alfonsin, Foreign Minister of the FRG Hans-Ditrich Genscher, President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Agata and other well-known political and public figures.

Liberal International was created in 1947 at a congress in Oxford. Today it consists of 84 liberal parties from 67 countries in six continents.

Since November 1998 the YABLOKO Association has had an observer status in Liberal International and participated in its meetings. At the 51st Congress of Liberal International (which took place on March 21-23, 2002, in Budapest) the Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO was adopted as a fully-fledged member of Liberal International.

See also:
YABLOKO as a member of Liberal International