In the race for the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize, the Ukrainian people prevailed against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, among others. According to Parliament President Metsola, the defenders of Ukraine and the refugees in particular should be honored.
The European Parliament has awarded this year’s Sakharov Prize for Democracy and Human Rights to the Ukrainian people. “This award is for the Ukrainians who are fighting on the ground, for those who have had to flee, for those who have lost relatives and friends,” Parliament Speaker Roberta Metsola said in Strasbourg.
Also nominated were the imprisoned Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and the Colombian Truth Commission. The award for the Ukrainian people, represented by its President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and other elected representatives as well as civil society, is endowed with 50,000 euros.
The EU Parliament will award the prize on December 14 in Strasbourg during the last plenary session of the year. The award is named after the Soviet dissident and physicist Andrei Sakharov, who died in 1989.