The European Parliament has announced the nominees for the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. This is the main award of the European Union in the field of human rights.
According to the website of the European Parliament, the list of nominees for 2022 includes:
- the brave Ukrainian people represented by President Volodymyr Zelensky, nominated by the European People's Party (EPP);
- the people of Ukraine, put forward by the group Renewing Europe (Renew Europe) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D);
- personally President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, nominated by the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR);
- Truth Commission in Colombia;
- Sonia Guajajara, Brazilian activist;
- Shirin Abu Akle, Al Jazeera journalist who died in May 2022;
- Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks.
The European Parliament will choose the winner on 19 October. The award ceremony will take place on December 14 at the session in Strasbourg.
In 2021, the prize was awarded to the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Also over the years, its laureates have been South African President Nelson Mandela, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseeva.
In October 2022, human rights activists from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.