Invitation to the public lecture of Tamara Chikunova
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- Tamara Chikunova near the stand of the Belarusian human rights defenders against the Vth World Congress against the Death Penalty (Madrid, 2013)
Today, October 9, a lecture of the human rights activist Tamara Chikunova, the founder and head of the Uzbek organization "Mothers against the Death Penalty and Torture", will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the gallery of "Goliaths" (Valhahradskaya Street, 4a, metro station “Maskouskaya”).
Tamara Chikunova became an active advocate of the abolition of the death penalty as a result of a personal tragedy: she founded the non-governmental organization "Mothers against the Death Penalty and Torture" in 2000 in Uzbekistan, after the execution of her son, who was posthumously acquitted of charges against him. The organization struggled for the abolition of the death penalty in Uzbekistan organization for eight years: on January 1, 2008, the country officially abolished this form of punishment.
For his efforts, the human rights activist received a number of prestigious awards, including the German Nuremberg Prize for Human Rights (2005), the Medal of the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" (2005), the Medal of the Italian city of Genoa in the movement "Cities for life – Cities against the Death Penalty" (2009), the French National Order of the Legion of Honour (2010). Tamara Chikunova was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.
Tamara Chikunova continues her efforts to abolish the death penalty in other countries, and especially in Belarus as the last post-Soviet country practicing the death penalty. During her visits to Belarus she always tries to meet and support the mothers of the executed. So, in 2010, she visited Sviatlana Zhuk in Svetlahorsk. During her current visit, on October 8 in Homel she met with Tamara Seliun and the mother of a death row prisoner, Volha Hrunova.Together with the Belarusian mothers, Tamara Chikunova became a heroine of the recently presented photo project "Capital Punishment".
Let us remind that all these activities take place in the framework of the Week against the Death Penalty in Belarus, which will last until October 10.
