GENEVA, May 4 (Reuters) - A Burundian defender of prisoners' rights and two Sri Lankan activists who have investigated atrocities in their country's two-decade civil war are to share a prestigious human rights award, organisers said on Friday.

The 2007 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders goes to Pierre Claver Mbonimpa of Burundi and Rajan Hoole and Kopalasingham Sritharan, co-founders of the University Teachers for Human Rights in Jaffna, according to a statement by 11 leading human rights groups who make up the jury.

The laureates are "symbols of the human rights movement in their respective countries, where standing up for human rights and democracy is a dangerous activity," jury chairman Hans Thoolen said.

Hoole and Sritharan have for 18 years documented abuses committed by Sri Lankan forces as well as by Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels, often at "great personal risk," the jury said.

Since fighting resumed, the University Teachers for Human Rights has "conducted groundbreaking investigations into the most serious atrocities," including the "execution-style slaying" of 17 aid workers last year.

"Often alone in exposing abuses by all parties, both men are under death sentences from the LTTE," the statement said. The two men had been forced to work underground for more than a decade after the assassination of their colleague.

Mbonimpa, a former policeman jailed for two years on the basis of "false accusations," founded groups to help protect prisoners' rights in Burundi, where some 9,000 prisoners have been awaiting trial for years in overcrowded jails.

"He has campaigned fearlessly against torture and organised events where police and military representatives have had to face public questions from human rights activists and victims," the jury said.

The annual award is named after British lawyer Martin Ennals who was the first secretary-general of Amnesty International. Previous laureates include Akbar Ganji of Iran and Arnold Tsunga of Zimbabwe as well as exiled Chinese dissident Hary Wu.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists sit on the jury. The awards ceremony is scheduled to take place in October.

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