The European Parliament awards the 2022 Sakharov Prize to the “courageous people of Ukraine”

The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metzola He made public on Twitter at 4:25 p.m. the award of the Sakharov Prize, the highest award granted by the European Union in the field of human rights, which this year has gone to the “brave people of Ukraine”.

Metsola announced before the hemicycle gathered in Strasbourg (France) that this year’s Sakharov prize will go to the people of Ukraine, after the popular, social democratic and liberal groups nominated him, and the conservatives asked to specifically reward Zelensky.

“There was consensus on this decision.. For the last nine months, the European Parliament and the world have seen Ukrainians heroically defending their country, their freedoms, their homes and families. They are also risking their lives for Europe, to safeguard the values ​​we all believe in,” Metsola said.

And on his Twitter account he highlighted that “they stand up for what they believe in. They fight for their values. They protect democracy, freedom and the rule of law. They risk their lives for us. And today they are the proud winners of the Sakharov Prize awarded by the European Parliament. Nobody deserves it more. Congratulations to the brave people of Ukraine!”

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is an award that the European Parliament awards each year in recognition of the defense of Human Rights.

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The prize, endowed with 50,000 euros, recognizes the “courage and resistance” of Zelensky, as well as the role of the State Emergency Services of Ukraine; the founder of the Angeles de Taira medical evacuation unit, Yulia Pajevska; lawyer and human rights activist Oleksandra Matviychuk; the Yellow Ribbon Civil Resistance Movement, and the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, Ivan Fyodorov.

The candidacy represented by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskythe elected leaders and the Ukrainian civil society started as the main favorite after attracting the support of popular, social democrats, liberals and conservatives who converged their proposals in one that recognized the role of the Ukrainian people.

It remains to be seen if it will be Zelensky himself who collects the award in person in the traditional ceremony at the last plenary session of the year, which is held in December in Strasbourg.

The prize, Metsola stressed, is for Ukrainians who are fighting on the ground, but also for those who have been forced to flee, those who have lost family and friends, and for those who are fighting for what they believe in.

Its about third year in a row that the Sakharov Prize has been awarded to a person or entity linked in some way to the opposition to the Russian regime or its ally Belarus: in 2020 it was won by the democratic opposition to the regime of Alexandr Lukashenko and in 2021 by the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalni.

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has facilitated an unprecedented unity in the candidacies of the main groups in the European Parliament for this award, which only diverged in whether to nominate the people of Ukraine represented by their president or by their civil organizations and defenders of human rights.

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In this edition, the Colombian Truth Commission, created by virtue of the peace agreement in that country, and the WikiLeaks activist Julian Assange were finalists.

The European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov Prize since 1988, an award named in honor of the Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov and endowed with 50,000 euros. Since then personalities such as the South African leader Nelson Mandelathe young Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzaithe Spanish platform Enough Already! and opponents of the Cuban regime such as the Ladies in White either William Farinas.