SAKHAROV PRIZE TO THE BRAVE PEOPLE OF UKRAINE

The people of Ukraine, represented by its President Volodimir Zelensky and its civil society organizations and elected representatives, received the Sakharov Prize at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday 14 December.

President Zelenski, who spoke by videoconference, stressed in his words of thanks that “this war must be won in such a way that no one will ever again try to take away our freedom”. He added that “we should not wait until the war is over to bring Ukraine’s acts of aggression and destruction and those responsible for it to international courts”.

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is the European Union’s highest award for human rights work. It is the expression of recognition to individuals, groups and organizations for their outstanding contribution to the protection of freedom of conscience.

This year, it recognizes Zelenski’s “courage and resilience,” as well as the role of the Ukrainian State Emergency Services; the founder of the Taira Angels medical evacuation unit, Yulia Pajevska; lawyer and human rights activist Oleksandra Matviychuk; the Yellow Ribbon Civil Resistance Movement; and the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, Ivan Fyodorov.

The award, as the President of the European Parliament stressed, is for Ukrainians fighting on the ground, but also for those who have been forced to flee, those who have lost family and friends, and for those who fight for what they believe in.

This is the third year in a row that the Sakharov Prize has gone to a person or entity linked in some way to the opposition to the regime in Russia or its ally Belarus: in 2020 it went to the democratic opposition to the regime of Alexander Lukashenko and in 2021 it