Ms Salima GHEZALI, Algeria, Journalist, writer and women’s rights activist, Winner of the 1997 Sakharov prize for Freedom of Thought

Salima Ghezali is an Algerian journalist, writer and women's rights activist. In the 1980s she became involved in the Algerian women's movement, amongst other things as a founder member of Women of Europe and the Maghreb and as editor-in-chief of NYSSA, the women's publication she herself founded. A teacher turned journalist, she edited the French-language Algerian weekly La Nation from 1994, the most widely-read weekly in Algeria. The paper was seized and suspended many times, and finally banned in 1996, after the appearance in Le Monde Diplomatique of Ghezali's report on the human rights situation in Algeria. The publication of La Nation resumed in 2011 on the Internet.  Salima Ghezali has won a range of human rights awards and continues her activism on women's rights, human rights and democracy in Algeria. In 1997 she was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Mr Emin MILLI, Azerbaijan, Journalist and Executive Director of Meydan TV

Mr. Milli was imprisoned in 2009 for two and a half years for his critical views of the government. He was conditionally released in November 2010, after serving 16 months of his sentence, in part due to strong international pressure on the government of Azerbaijan. From 2002–2004, Mr. Milli was director of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and also advised the Council of Europe on more than 40 cases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, many of whom were released following pressure from the Council. Prior to that, he was a coordinator for the International Republican Institute in Azerbaijan. Mr. Milli is currently managing director of the independent online media platform www.meydan.tv that has been launched in 2013.

Ms Tetiana POPOVA, Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Information Policy

Ms Alexandrina-Livia RUSU, Romania, Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Permanent Representation of Romania to the Council of Europe

Alexandrina-Livia Rusu is Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of Romania to the Council of Europe since August 2015. She holds an MA from the National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Bucharest and a PhD at the Doctoral School within the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. She previously served in the Permanent Mission of Romania to the United Nations in New York, the Romanian Embassy in Rome and General Consulate in Milan. In the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she was part of diplomatic team preparing Romania’s accession to the European Union. She held posts as Director for EU External Relations and European Correspondent (2003-2007) and coordinated the elaboration of Romania’s first National Strategy on the international development cooperation policy adopted in 2006. Her experience covers also the Western Balkans area, the regional cooperation formats, election monitoring (Palestine in January 2005, Turkey in July 2014).