Jailed journalists in Belarus, Georgia win EU’s Sakharov human rights prize

Imprisoned journalists Andrzej Poczobut from Belarus and Mzia Amaglobeli from Georgia won EU's top human rights award, the Sakharov Prize, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced on Wednesday.

Andrzej Poczobut is a correspondent for the influential Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. He was convicted of “harming Belarus' national security” and sentenced to eight years, which he is serving in the Novopolotsk penal colony.

Mzia Amaghlobeli, a prominent journalist who founded two of Georgia's independent media outlets, was in August convicted of slapping a police chief during an anti-government protest.

She was sentenced to two years in prison in a case that was condemned by rights groups as an attempt to curb media freedom.

“Both are journalists currently in prison on trumped up charges simply for doing their work and for speaking out against injustice. Their courage has made them symbols of the struggle for freedom and democracy,” Metsola said at the parliament in Strasbourg, France.

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'Highest tribute'

The annual EU award, named after Soviet dissident Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and basic freedoms.

The winner is chosen by senior EU lawmakers from among candidates nominated by the European Parliament's various political groups.

The assembly says the award is “the highest tribute paid by the European Union to human rights work.”

Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who along with her husband Siarhei Tsikhanouski and others opposed to the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko won the prize in 2020, said that awarding it to the reporters this year “sends a strong message to all political prisoners that you are not alone and journalism is not a crime”.

Several Sakharov laureates, including Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, picked up the Sakharov last year.

The award, which comes with a €50,000 endowment, will be presented in a ceremony at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in December.