European Parliament awards the Ukrainian people the 2022 Sakharov Prize

Members of European Parliament named the “brave people of Ukraine, represented by their president, elected leaders and civil society” the laureates of the EP’s 2022 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the EP News reported yesterday.

“This award is for those Ukrainians fighting on the ground. For those who have been forced to flee. For those who have lost relatives and friends. For all those who stand up and fight for what they believe in. I know that the brave people of Ukraine will not give up and neither will we”, said EP President Roberta Metsola in Strasbourg announcing the consensual decision by Parliament’s Conference of Presidents.

“Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine is inflicting enormous costs on the Ukrainian people. They are not only fighting to protect their homes, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, but they are also defending freedom, democracy, the rule of law and European values on the battlefields ‘against a brutal regime that seeks to undermine our democracy, weaken and divide our Union,’” EP News quotes MEPs as saying.

It is for the first time that the €50,000 Sakharov Prize, established in 1988, goes to a whole nation rather than individuals or organizations. In 2018, the prize was awarded to Oleh Sentsov, a Ukrainian film director and writer, who became a symbol of the struggle for the release of political prisoners held in Russia and around the world.

Awarded for the first time to Nelson Mandela and Anatoli Marchenko, the “Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is the highest tribute paid by the European Union to human rights work,” according to the European Parliament.

🔴 LIVE | Announcement of the 2022 Sakharov Prize laureate@Europarl_EN @RobertaMetsola https://t.co/ILAWwqsnWB

— Roberta Metsola (@EP_President) October 19, 2022

Photo: Baltics News