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CIVIL NEWS
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority It is time to sit back and reflect.
Evgeniy Zhovtis, Kazakhstani HR defender receives the 2010 Sakharov Award
Secretary General of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Bjørn Engesland, presented on 27 August 2010 the award to Evgeniy Zhovtis, right, in the prison in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan, where Mr. Zhovtis is currently being held. Together with his organization, the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, Evgeny Zhovtis has been one of the most significant human rights defenders in Kazakhstan for two decades.
Through dialogue with the authorities, reporting on the human rights situation, participation in international forums and by offering free legal aid and human rights education for citizens in Kazakhstan, he has contributed to the strengthening of human rights in his home country.
Zhovtis actively helped shape Kazakhstan’s human rights plan ahead of the country’s chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), in close cooperation with the authorities and civil society.
Following a highly controversial and much criticized trial in the wake of a tragic car accident, Evgeny Zhovtis was sentenced to four years of prison in 2009. He is currently in prison in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan.
Information by humanrightshouse.org