Maria Kirbasova (; 19412011), was a Kalmyk human rights activist who founded the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia. In 1995 she was awarded

Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize The Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize (''Raftoprisen'') is a human rights award established in the memory of the Norwegian human rights activist, Thorolf Rafto. Organization The prize is awarded annually by the Rafto Foundation for Human R ...

and the

Seán MacBride Seán MacBride (26 January 1904 – 15 January 1988) was an Irish Clann na Poblachta politician who served as Minister for External Affairs from 1948 to 1951, Leader of Clann na Poblachta from 1946 to 1965 and Chief of Staff of the IRA from 193 ...

Peace Prize and in 1996 she was given the

Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob v ...

Biography

Maria Kirbasova came from a Kalmyk family who were

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

to Siberia during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She was able to return in 1950s when

Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and Premier of the Soviet Union, chairm ...

allowed it. She moved to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

where she was an engineer. She was a pacifist buddhist. Her son Petia was drafted to military service in 1988. Kirbassva had vehemently opposed his placement and was an organizer in the protests against the conditions for soldiers serving in the Soviet Army. She was elected chairman of the he Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia. during the conference in April 1991, held with the deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Kirbasova also began protesting against Human rights violations during the Chechen war and by 1995 she was also working for the Rights of Young Russian Conscripts. She attended the Moscow-Grozny Maternal Compassion March. Kirbassova moved to Finland with her daughter Kermen Soitu in 2008. She requested to be given residence. She was at that point unable to live alone having had a stroke and suffering from rheumatism. Her daughter was married and living in Finland. Initially her request was denied and Kirbassova was scheduled to be deported. A public outcry in part due to her work as a dissident and against the Chechen war, allowed her to get a review of her request and after an appeal, in 2009 she was allowed to remain in Finland. Kirbassova died there in 2011.

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirbassova, Maria 1941 births 2011 deaths Russian engineers Russian human rights activists Women human rights activists Russian dissidents