The European Parliament awarded the 2021 Sakharov Prize for the defense of human rights and freedom of thought on Wednesday to the imprisoned Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, announced the president of this assembly, the Italian David Sassoli.
“He fought tirelessly against the corruption of Vladimir Putin’s regime. It cost him his freedom and almost his life, “said the President of the European Parliament on Twitter, who also reiterated the institution’s call for” the immediate release “of Mr. Navalny.
The choice of Alexeï Navalny was immediately greeted by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, against a backdrop of tensions between Russia and the West.
This award is “the recognition of the important role he has played for many years to defend the values of democracy and be a strong voice in Russia”, the head of the Atlantic Alliance told the press in Brussels.
Mr Navalny’s candidacy was supported by the EPP (right), the main political group in the European Parliament, and the centrist group Renew, the third political force. For their part, the S & D (left) and environmental groups had proposed to honor Afghan women fighting for equality and their freedom against the Taliban regime.
Main opponent of Vladimir Putin, Alexeï Navalny is imprisoned for fraud in a case widely considered to be political repression.
He almost died of poisoning in August 2020, which the West attributed to Russian services. Moscow has denied any involvement. Navalny had been treated in Germany, which had strained relations between Berlin and Moscow, then he was imprisoned upon his return to Russia.
After the Uyghur intellectual Ilham Tohti, sentenced to life imprisonment in China for “separatism”, winner in 2019, the prize bearing the name of the great dissident of the USSR Andrei Sakharov was awarded in 2020 to “the democratic opposition To President Alexander Loukachenko in Belarus and received by his leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa.
Launched in 1988, the Sakharov Prize “for the freedom of the mind” rewards every year people or organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is endowed with a sum of 50,000 euros.