14 May 2022
Source: Moscow Helsinki Group
Andrei Babushkin was born in 1964 in Moscow region. He graduated from the faculty of philosophy of Moscow State University.
In 1991-1993 he was head of the Moscow city interdepartmental commission on penal institutions and prevention of delinquency.
In 1993-1995 he was director of the Society of Trustees of Penal Institutions. He organized a system of regular assistance for children in need who were serving time in places of detention.
From 1996 he headed the Committee for Civil Rights, a charitable civil society organisation.
From 1999 was a member of the council of experts of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation.
From 2012 was a member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, where he chaired the Council’s Working Group № 10 on Public Oversight Commissions, penal reform and issues of crime prevention.
In 2009 Andrei Babushkin became a laureate of the Moscow Helsinki Group’s Human Rights Prize in the nomination ‘For work protecting the social rights and interests of local communities.’
Andrei Babushkin lived for the sake of others and was a true human rights defender and advocate. For more than 30 years Andrei worked on penal reform. He published more than 800 different proposals to improve the working of the penitentiary system and was co-author of the law on public oversight of state institutions.
We offer our condolences to his family and friends. We share this loss with his friends and all those who knew and loved Andrei Babushkin.
Translated by Simon Cosgrove
