Press release issued by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

VIENNA, 21 June 2011 - The following is a press release issued by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on 21 June. The views expressed in this press release do not necessarily reflect those of the OSCE Chairmanship, nor of all OSCE participating States.

Secretary General Oliver statement on the passing of Elena Bonner

COPENHAGEN, 21 June 2011 – OSCE Secretary General Spencer Oliver today released the following statement regarding the passing of Yelena Bonner, one of Russia's most prominent human rights activists, who died 18 June at the age of 88.

"Yelena Bonner was a tireless and courageous advocate for human rights and an inspiration to Helsinki monitors not only in the Soviet Union and Russia, but throughout communist regimes in Eastern Europe," Mr. Oliver said. "Her passing is a loss for us all, but her life remains a monument to the defense of fundamental freedoms throughout the world."

Ms. Bonner, the widow of Andrei Sakharov, had smuggled her husband’s writings out of Siberia and in 1975 accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on his behalf.  Ms. Bonner was a founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a non-governmental rights monitor set up in 1976 to observe the Soviet Union's compliance with the Helsinki Final Act.

During this time Mr. Oliver, in his capacity as director of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, met Ms. Bonner on several occasions in Moscow and elsewhere. He personally facilitated the delivery of Sakharov’s Nobel gold medal to Ms. Bonner’s children in Boston.