Alone among Soviet dissidents of the Leonid Brezhnev years, Sergei Kovalev, who has died aged 91, went on to play a major role in the eras of Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, only to find that his outspoken support for human rights put him once again in opposition to the Russian government.
The Guardian: Sergei Kovalev obituary
(FILES) In this file photo taken on December 16, 2009, one of the three laureates of the Sakharov Prize 2009, Sergei Kovalev gives a speech before receiving the prize from the President of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. - One of Russia's most famous human rights defenders and former Soviet dissident, Sergei Kovalev, died aged 91 on August 9, 2021, his family said. Kovalev was a biologist who became one of the leading members of the USSR's pro-democracy movement. He was held for years in Soviet labour camps for his activism.
