2 September 2020
2 September is the birthday of human rights activist Lev Ponomarev, chair of For Human Rights, a national NGO, and a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group
2 September 2020
By Leonid Gozman – politician and public figure
Source: Moscow Helsinki Group
He is 79 today. It’s no mean feat but, nowadays, many people make it to their 79th birthday. Yet very few people manage to see their 79th like Lev Aleksandrovich: he is active, in demand and fearless. If you need to find him – not over the phone, but in real life – look for the ongoing uncoordinated campaigns and protests that call for the defence of innocent victims of the system, or a demonstration that will most likely be broken up – he will be there. If you still can’t find him, look into the back of a police van – you’ll find him there for sure. If there are no protests happening, go to the courthouse, where these guys are allegedly being tried – he’ll be sitting in the courtroom or standing nearby.
So many would like to. But there’s illness, fatigue and age. He probably also has illness, fatigue and age. Only he has something that is more important to him than any illness, fatigue or age.
Happy birthday, Lyova! May you reach a hundred and twenty in the same style!
2 September 2020
Lev Ponomarev, member of the board of the Moscow Helsinki Group and executive director of the ‘In Defense of Prisoners’ Rights’ fund, turns 79 today. He is congratulated by Vladimir Ryzhkov, politician
Source: Moscow Helsinki Group [original source: Kommersant]
Dear Lev Aleksandrovich!
I wish you a very happy birthday! For me, and for many Russian citizens, you embody the best features of the Russian intelligentsia. An intellectual, a prominent physicist, a friend and colleague of Andrei Sakharov who back in Brezhnev’s USSR had the courage to speak openly and freely, and to actively participate in the human rights movement. One of the founding fathers of a free democratic Russia in the early 1990s. A fearless politician and human rights activist who has been repeatedly detained and persecuted by the authorities in the 2000s. A courageous citizen and patriot, always standing for truth and human rights; responsive and ready to lend a helping hand to everyone who needs it. You are the best there is in Russia – you are the free future of our country and its true dignity. I wish you health and new victories!
Translated by Alice Lee
