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LORD PLUMB, President of the European Parliament. — This Is a Most Unusual Event from Parliament's Point of View

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LORD PLUMB, President of the European Parliament. — This Is a Most Unusual Event from Parliament's Point of View LORD PLUMB, President of the European Parliament. — This is a most unusual event from Parliament's point of view. It is the Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought awarded to the late Mr Marchenko and Mr Nelson Mandela. The initiative to create an annual human rights prize to enable this Parliament to pay tribute to those individuals who fight, often with their lives, for the values we hold most dear was launched some four years ago. At that time we felt that one particular individual Andrei Sakharov, then in internal exile in Gorky with his wife, Yelena Bonner, repre- sented in a very special way the fight for freedom of ideas and of expression. The award we are conferring today for the first time became known as the Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought. The resolution which we adopted in Parliament on 13 December 1985 provided that it should be awarded to an individual or an organization who had contributed to the development of East-West relations in the con- text of the Helsinki Final Act and, in particular, the Third Basket thereof; cooperation in humanitarian and other fields. Secondly, the safeguarding of the principle of free scientific inquiry and thirdly the def- ence of human rights and respect for international law and the practice of governments in relation to the let- ter of their Constitutions. Much to my personal regret, since I saw him in Moscow on a visit not long ago, Dr Sakharov is not able to be with us today. I know he is with us in spirit. After recently completing a very strenuous programme of engagements, he has now embarked on a campaign for election in the Soviet capital. This decision and his continuing energetic commitment to secure greater freedoms for his fellow citizens since his return to Moscow must convince us more than ever that it is most fitting that this prize should bear his name. Even if he is not present he has conveyed his hope that he could be with us on a future occasion, perhaps as a fellow parliamentarian. There have been regular contacts with Dr Sakharov since he first indicated to us in Gorky that he would be willing and, indeed, proud that this prize should bear his name. On a number of occasions he asked to be kept regularly informed of our progress in drawing up the rules for awarding the prize and he repeatedly expressed an interest in being acquainted with the can- didates for the prize and with their work. In the event, the first joint winner of this prize cannot fail to have Cape, he remains a prisoner, although since his release been familiar to him. As a result of the decisions taken from a private clinic last summer the authorities have by our Political Affairs Committee and the enlarged said that he could receive his family more freely and Bureau it was decided that the prize this year should on a continuing basis. His family, characteristically, be shared by Mr Nelson Mandela and by the late Mr stated that they would not take advantage of these pri- Anatoli Marchenko who died in such tragic circum- vileges as long as they have not been granted to other stances in Chistopol prison on 9 December 1986 after political prisoners — an act of courage. a protracted hunger strike. Unfortunately, circum- stances in South Africa still do not permit Mr Mandela (Loud applause) to leave his country to receive the award. Here, there- fore, today to receive the prize on Mr Mandela's I am sure that every Member of this House will join behalf is his grandson, Mandla Mandela. with me in issuing yet another appeal to the authorities of South Africa that Nelson Mandela be released (Loud and sustained applause) unconditionally at the earliest opportunity. To receive the posthumous award for Mr Marchenko (Loud applause) we have his widow, Mrs Larissa Bogoraz, herself a renowned human rights campaigner. We are delighted It only remains for me, therefore, with great pride and to have her with us. with great pleasure on behalf of not just the European Parliament but, may I say, the European people, to (Loud and sustained applause) present the Sakharov Prize to the family representa- tives of the two men we are honouring today in the In homage to Mr Marchenko, I simply recall the cour- hope that this may encourage others around the age, the self-sacrifice he displayed in what was effec- world, fighting to build fairer and more human socie- tively a never-ending struggle. When his death came at ties. the age of 48 of a hunger strike, he had spent more than 20 years in Russian prisons. His book My Testi- (The President presented the Sakharov Prize) mony is a seminal work. Let me quote here Dr Sak- harov in a message sent to me last year. He said: (Loud and sustained applause) In My Testimony Marchenko was the first to tell (The formal sitting was closed at 3.15 p.m.) the truth about the post-Stalin labour camps and the prisons. His book became one of the founda- tion stones of the human rights movement in our country. With its spirit of morality through non- violent struggle for justice, with its aspiration towards unconcealed and complete truth, the book aroused the hatred of the organs of repres- sion towards its author. The whole of his sub- sequent life and his tragic death in Chistopol pri- son was their way of repaying him for this truth, this steadfastness, for his high moral principle. The achievement of Marchenko's life and the work is an enormous contribution to the cause of democracy, of humanity and of justice. Such was the tribute paid by Sakharov himself to Mar- chenko. For Nelson Mandela the struggle continues. His life, most of which has been spent behind bars, has been marked by his unwavering commitment to the cause of equal rights. More than any other single individual in Africa, he symbolizes the struggle against apartheid which this Parliament has condemned so many times and stands as a beacon of hope for the long overdue recognition in South Africa of full human dignity for all its peoples. Now in his 71st year and in poor health, he has spent 26 years in South African prisons, first on Robben Island, then in Pollsmoor Prison near Cape- town. Although he now lives in a house adjacent to the Victor Verser Gaol, about 50 kilometres from the.
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