On Wednesday, October 20, the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedom of Thought to the imprisoned Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, announced the president of this assembly, the Italian David Sassoli.
“He relentlessly fought the corruption of the regime of Vladimir Putin. It cost him his freedom and almost his life ”, reported on Twitter the President of the European Parliament who also reiterated the institution’s call to “Immediate release” by Mr. Navalny.
The choice of Alexeï Navalny was immediately greeted by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, against a backdrop of tensions between Russia and the West. This price is “The recognition of the important role he has played for many years in defending the values of democracy and being a strong voice in Russia”, said the head of the Atlantic Alliance to the press in Brussels.
“This Sakharov Prize is, of course, a prize for you, the not indifferent people who, even in the darkest times, are not afraid to tell the truth”, reacted on Twitter the Anti-Corruption Fund, the organization founded by the number one opponent of Vladimir Putin.
Incarcerated for fraud
This candidacy was supported by the European People’s Party (right), the main political group in Parliament, and the centrist group Renew Europe, the third political force, while the groups of social democrats and environmentalists had proposed to honor Afghan women. fighting for equality and their freedom since the Taliban took over power.
Main opponent of Vladimir Putin, Alexeï Navalny is imprisoned for fraud in a case widely considered to be political repression. He almost died of poisoning in August 2020, which the West attributed to Russian services. Moscow has denied any involvement. Navalny had been treated in Germany, which had strained relations between Berlin and Moscow, then he was imprisoned upon his return to Russia.
After the Uyghur intellectual Ilham Tohti, sentenced to life imprisonment in China for “separatism”, winner in 2019, the prize bearing the name of the great dissident of the USSR Andrei Sakharov was awarded in 2020 to “Democratic opposition” to President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus and received by his leader Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya.
Launched in 1988, the Sakharov Prize “for the freedom of the mind” rewards every year people or organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is endowed with a sum of 50,000 euros.
Also listen Alexei Navalny, the number one enemy of Vladimir Putin