WORLD BRIEFING / RUSSIA

The European Parliament awarded its top human rights prize to Memorial, a Russian group that campaigns against abuses of power, underscoring what activists say is a worsening situation in the country.

Memorial, which tracks human rights abuses across the former Soviet Union, made headlines in July when its activist Natalia Estemirova was found dead after being kidnapped in her native Chechnya.

European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, in announcing the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named for the late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, said the assembly hoped “to contribute to ending the circle of fear and violence surrounding human rights defenders in the Russian Federation.”