Sakharov Prize recognizes 'courage' of two imprisoned journalists from Belarus and Georgia

(AFP) Two journalists imprisoned in Belarus and Georgia, Andrzej Poczobut and Mzia Amaghlobeli, won the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought awarded by the European Parliament.

The awardees take over from Venezuelan oppositionists Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado, who was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

"Both are journalists currently in prison on trumped up charges simply for doing their work and for speaking out against injustice," said European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. "Their courage has made them symbols of the struggle for freedom and democracy," she added.

Mzia Amaghlobeli: An award to "celebrate the struggle for democracy of the Georgian people"

Amaghlobeli is a 50-year-old Georgian journalist, co-founder of two independent media outlets and a specialist in investigating misappropriation of public funds and abuse of power.

In August, she was sentenced to two years in prison for, according to the prosecution, slapping a policeman during a protest earlier this year. To protest her arrest she spent 40 days on hunger strike.

The award "celebrates the struggle for democracy of the Georgian people," the newsrooms he headed in Tbilisi told AFP.

Andrzej Poczobut, victim of Lukashenko's repression

Poczobut, 52, is a Polish-Belarusian journalist, who served as a correspondent in Minsk for the Polish media outlet Gazeta Wyborcza.

In 2021, he was arrested amid a wave of repression against the press critical of the Lukashenko regime, and in 2023 he was sentenced to eight years in prison for allegedly "undermining national security" and "incitement to hatred."

The deputy editor of Gazeta Wyborcza, Roman Imielski, told AFP that he hopes that "the awarding of this prize will mark a new opening, that Andrzej Poczobut will regain his freedom."