Elena Bonner

Elena Bonner (1923–2011) was a Soviet and Russian human rights activist and writer, known for her advocacy on behalf of political prisoners and civil liberties. Married to physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, she became a prominent public voice in the Soviet dissident movement. Bonner helped publicize abuses and supported networks assisting those persecuted for their beliefs. During the 1980s she and Sakharov were subjected to state pressure, including internal exile in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod). After the Soviet period, she continued to speak and write on human rights and democratic principles, remaining an influential figure in international rights circles.