You're reading: Memorial: Russian interpreter Mironov was prominent rights campaigner

, was a prominent Russian rights campaigner and one of the last Soviet-era political prisoners, head of the Memorial historical-educational and rights society, Arseniy Roginsky, told Interfax.

“Andrei Mironov was a member of the Memorial society. But he was not
on the society’s payroll. He was an independent rights campaigner,”
Roginsky said.

“Andrei was arrested in the Gorbachev era and sentenced to four years
in a camp and three years of exile in 1986 for anti-Soviet propaganda,
but he was released relatively soon, in 1987, when political prisoners
were freed,” Roginsky said.

Mironov was involved continuously in Memorial’s activities, but mostly worked outside Memorial, he said.

“Andrei would travel to the troubled regions extensively as a rights
campaigner. He had an excellent command of foreign languages and often
accompanied foreign reporters and rights activists to conflict zones. He
last mission was like that,” Roginsky said.

Mironov celebrated his 60th birthday in 2014, according to the Human Rights in Russia website.

Member of the Civil Assistance rights committee Svetlana Gannushkina
said that Mironov had visited Chechnya on many occasions since 1994. “A
lonely and defenseless person, Andrei worked hard to provide protection
to those in need of it: he would raise money to help the families of
victims, and would bring them to us for assistance,” Gannushkina said.

In 2008 Andrei Mironov was presented with the Pierre Simon Prize, awarded annually under the French Health Ministry’s patronage.

“He was a man of crystal probity. His heart was filled with the
uncompromising feeling of justice, and amazing kindness and faith in the
right,” Gannushkina said.

Italian journalist Andrea Rocchelli and Andrei Mironov were killed in a shelling attack outside Sloviansk.