The people of Ukraine, the Colombian Truth Commission and WikiLeaks activist Julian Assange are the finalists for the Sakharov Prize 2022informed this Thursday the European Parliament.
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The European Parliament awards this award to an extraordinary contribution to the protection of freedom of conscience and it is the highest tribute paid by the European Union to the work on human rights.
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“The brave people of Ukraine, represented by its president, its elected leaders and civil society; and the Colombian Truth Commission”, as well as “Julian Assange, one of the activists behind the WikiLeaks organization”, are the three candidates selected by MEPs from the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Development for the 2022 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the European Parliament said in a statement.
The winner of this edition will be announced on the 19thafter a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Parliament, which brings together its president, Roberta Metsola, and the leaders of the political groups.
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The prize, which in the previous edition was awarded to the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalni, will be delivered in an official ceremony in the hemicycle of Parliament in Strasbourg on December 14.
The candidacy of the President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, and the Ukrainian people for the Sakharov Prize was presented by the European People’s Party in order to reward their “struggle to protect their homes, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity”, as well as “for the freedom, democracy, the rule of law and European values on the battlefields”.
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“Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine, launched in February 2022, is causing enormous costs to the Ukrainian people in terms of lives lost and cities and towns reduced to ruins,” the nomination text reads.
Also the Socialists and Democrats and the liberals of Renew Europe nominated the people of Ukraine, highlighting the role of individuals, representatives of civil society initiatives and state and public institutions.
The Social Democratic nomination mentioned, among others, the State Emergency Services of Ukrainea; Yulia Pajevska, founder of the Angeles de Taira medical evacuation unit; human rights activist Oleksandra Matviychuk; the Yellow Ribbon Civil Resistance Movement; and Ivan Fedorov, former mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol.
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And the group of European Reformists and Conservatives designated President Zelensky as “the face of the courage of the Ukrainian people, highlighting his courage, resistance and devotion to his people to European values.”
Regarding the candidacy of the Truth Commission in Colombia, nominated by the group of the Left, he highlighted the objective of this institution – created under a 2016 peace agreement to end the Colombian civil war – to “establish the facts about human rights violations during the conflict and advocate for the rights of millions of its victims”.
The nomination pays tribute to the victims of the civil war and is described as an opportunity to support the peace process. It mentions the names of Francisco de Roux, Alejandro Valencia Villa, Marta Ruiz Naranjo, Alfredo Molano Bravo (posthumously), Alejandro Castillejo, Saúl Alonso Franco, Lucía Victoria González, Patricia Tobón Yagarí, Alejandra Miller, Leyner Palacios, Ángela Salazar Murillo ( posthumously) and Carlos Martín Beristain.
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Finally, Assange’s candidacy, presented by 41 MEPs, wants to recognize the role of this activist who “provided the world’s leading newspapers with documents on war crimes, arbitrary arrests, human rights violations and torture”.
Assange has been jailed in the UK and currently faces extradition to the US to stand trial on charges of espionage and computer misuse.
Since 1988, the European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov Prize, an award named in honor of the Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, and endowed with 50,000 euros.
Since then, it has been received by personalities such as the South African leader Nelson Mandela, the young Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, the Spanish platform ¡Basta Ya! and opponents of the Cuban regime such as the Ladies in White or Guillermo Fariñas.
EFE
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