Watchdog

A law professor and a Christian religious leader in Iraq, an Azerbaijani rights defender, and Ukraine's pro-Western Euromaidan movement are among the nominees for the European Parliament’s 2014 Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought.

The two Iraqi nominees -- Mahmud Al 'Asali and the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon, Louis Raphael Sako -- have both spoken out against anti-Christian persecution in Iraq. Asali was killed in July.

Azerbaijani human rights activist Leyla Yunus, who has been involved in people-to-people diplomacy with Armenian rights activists, is currently in pretrial detention on high treason charges.

The Euromaidan movement derived from a wave of pro-EU demonstrations across Ukraine that led to President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster in February.

Two European Parliament committees will shortlist three finalists next month.

The 50,000 euro ($64,200) Sakharov Prize is awarded annually to honor defenders of human rights and freedom of expression.

Anti-gay activists led by a city lawmaker have disrupted a gay rights festival in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, dousing participants with green liquid and releasing a gas that made many feel sick.

St. Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov, his aide Anatoly Artyukh, and activists who associate themselves with the Russian Orthodox faith interrupted the opening ceremony of the "KviroFest-2014" event at a cafe on September 18.

The visitors splashed an indelible green antiseptic on participants and released an unidentified gas that sickened many..

The 10-day festival opened despite the attack.

Russia decriminalized homosexual relations after the 1991 Soviet collapse, but such harassment is common.

Rights defenders and Western governments including the United States say a 2013 law banning the dissemination of gay "propaganda" to minors is discriminatory and encourages ill-treatment of LGBT people.