Andrei Sakharov was a Soviet physicist who spent most of his career working in the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons program, receiving honors that included Hero of Socialist Labor (1953, 1956 and 1962); four Orders of Lenin; the Lenin Prize (1956); the Stalin Prize (1953) . . .

. . . and the Nobel Peace Prize (1975), which he was not allowed by the government to accept in person. (His wife, Yelena Bonner, was permitted to travel in order to receive the award on his behalf.)

After nearly a lifetime of working on the development of thermonuclear weapons, Sakharov became what one might call a conscientious objector. In later life, he was internationally renowned for his political activism on behalf of individual freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and reforms of the Soviet government.

In his own country he was deemed a dissident and persecuted for the remainder of his years. In 1980, he was stripped of all of his earlier awards due to his “anti-Soviet activities.” When Mikhail Gorbachev offered to reinstate them, Sakharov declined.

Sakharov died in December 1989. But he lived long enough to see the European Parliament (EP) establish the Sakharov Prize in his honor in 1988, which is awarded annually to persons or organizations dedicated to human rights and freedoms.

This year’s recipients are two political hostages whose names will now be added to our list:

Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut, imprisoned in Belarus since 2021, and sentenced to a term of eight years for his criticism of the dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko; and

Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli, serving a two-year sentence in Georgia for “resisting or using violence against a law enforcement officer” during a pro-European protest in 2024. She is reported to be in deteriorating health. [Rikard Jozwiak, RFE/RL, October 22, 2025.]

*. *. *

And so, sadly, our list continues to grow:

Immigrant Detainees in Russia:

Migrants from the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

Prisoners of War:

The 19,500 Kidnapped Ukrainian Children
The People of Ukraine

Endangered Exiles:

Mikita Losik
Yulia Navalnaya
Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents

Political Prisoners:

In Azerbaijan:

The “Azerbaijan 7”:
— Farid Mehralizada
— Ulvi Hasanli
— Sevinj Abbasova (Vagifqiai)
— Mahammad Kekalov
— Hafiz Babali
— Nargiz Absalamova
— Elnara Gasimova

In Belarus:

Ales Bialiatski
Andrei Chapiuk
Marya Kalesnikava
Uladzimir Labkovich
Andrzej Poczobut
Marfa Rabkova
Valiantsin Stafanovic
Yuras Zyankovich

In Georgia:

Mzia Amaglobeli

In China:

Chenyue Mao (American)

In Russia:

David Barnes (American)
Gordon Black (American)
Antonina Favorskaya
Konstantin Gabov
Robert Gilman (American)
Stephen James Hubbard (American)
Sergey Karelin
Timur Kishukov
Vadim Kobzev
Darya Kozyreva
Artyom Kriger
Michael Travis Leake (American)
Aleksei Liptser
Grigory Melkonyants
Nika Novak
Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler)
Sofiane Sehili (French)
Igor Sergunin
Dmitry Shatresov
Robert Shonov
Grigory Skvortsov
Eugene Spector (American)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland (American)

Stay strong . . . you are not forgotten.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
10/26/25