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“Nobody deserves this award extra.” The European Parliament on Wednesday awarded its Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the “courageous Ukrainian individuals” confronted with the Russian invasion.

“This award is devoted to the Ukrainians who’re combating on the bottom. To those that have been compelled to flee. To those that have misplaced family members and mates. To all those that resist and combat for his or her beliefs,” mentioned the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, saying the selection of the establishment within the hemicycle in Strasbourg.

The rewarded Ukrainian individuals are represented “by their President Volodymyr Zelensky, their elected officers and civil society”, she mentioned.

Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the presentation of the celebrated prize, saluting his people who find themselves combating for “freedom and democracy”. “Ukrainians show their dedication to the values ​​of freedom and democracy every single day on the battlefield towards the Russian terrorist state”, assured Mr. Zelensky on Twitter, stressing that the help of the EU was “crucial for the ‘Ukraine”.

“I do know that the courageous individuals of Ukraine is not going to give in, and neither will we,” added Roberta Metsola, stressing that Ukrainians have been additionally risking their lives “to safeguard the values ​​all of us imagine in: freedom, democracy, justice. ‘rule of regulation’.

The primary chief of a European establishment to go to Ukraine after the outbreak of struggle, Roberta Metsola thought-about that “nobody deserved this prize extra”.

Confronted with Russia’s “acts of pure terror” in Ukraine, denounced once more on Wednesday morning by the President of the European Fee Ursula von der Leyen, the candidacy of the Ukrainian individuals has additionally achieved “consensus” among the many political teams in Parliament.

Extremely symbolic

“Because the prize bears the title of Russian dissident Andrei Sakharov, it’s a extremely symbolic gesture to award it to Ukraine at this essential second in its combat towards the invasion launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin,” mentioned famous Portuguese MEP Pedro Marques, vice-president of the S&D group (left), second parliamentary group.

“Who aside from the Ukrainian individuals has given a lot to democratic values ​​in our up to date period?” Additionally reacted the Frenchman Stéphane Séjourné, president of the Renew Europe group (centrists and liberals).

Two different finalists have been within the operating: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, detained in London, and Colombia’s Reality Fee, a physique that investigates human rights violations in the course of the armed battle with FARC guerrillas.

Created in 1988, the Sakharov Prize “for freedom of thought” rewards annually individuals or organizations defending human rights and basic freedoms. It’s endowed with a sum of fifty,000 euros.

Nobel antechamber

On a number of events the prize has acted as an antechamber to the Nobel Peace Prize, as for the Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege and the Yazidie Nadia Murad, the younger Pakistani Malala Yousafzai or Nelson Mandela, first winner of the Sakharov Prize.

This yr, the Russian NGO Memorial, co-founded by the nice Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, who gave his title to the European Parliament prize, was in flip co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2021 and 2020, the Sakharov Prize had already honored those that arise towards the regime of Vladimir Putin and his allies. He had rewarded the Russian opponent nonetheless imprisoned Alexei Navalny final yr, and, the earlier yr, “the democratic opposition” to President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus.

The 2022 Sakharov Prize will probably be formally awarded on December 14 throughout a ceremony within the hemicycle of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

This text has been printed routinely. Sources: ats / afp