Posters of Andrzej Poczobut, a jailed journalist for the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and a representative of the Polish minority in Belarus, in Bialystok on January 21, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Two journalists, one imprisoned in Belarus and the other in Georgia, have won the European Union’s top human rights honour, the Sakharov Prize, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced on Wednesday (October 22, 2025).
Andrzej Poczobut is a correspondent for the influential Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. He was convicted of “harming Belarus’ national security” and sentenced to eight years, which he is serving in the Novopolotsk penal colony.
Mzia Amaghlobeli, a prominent journalist who founded two of Georgia’s independent media outlets, was convicted in August of slapping a police chief during an anti-government protest. She was sentenced to two years in prison in a case that was condemned by rights groups as an attempt to curb media freedom.
“Both are journalists currently in prison on trumped up charges simply for doing their work and for speaking out against injustice. Their courage has made them symbols of the struggle for freedom and democracy,” Ms. Metsola said at the parliament in Strasbourg, France.
The annual EU award, named after Soviet dissident Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honour individuals or groups who defend human rights and basic freedoms.
The winner is chosen by senior EU lawmakers from among candidates nominated by the European Parliament’s various political groups. The assembly says the award is “the highest tribute paid by the European Union to human rights work.”
Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who, along with her husband Siarhei Tsikhanouski and others opposed to the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko, won the prize in 2020, said that awarding it to the reporters this year “sends a strong message to all political prisoners that you are not alone and journalism is not a crime.”
Several Sakharov laureates, including Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, picked up the Sakharov last year.
The award, which comes with a €50,000 ($58,000) endowment, will be presented in a ceremony at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in December.
Published – October 22, 2025 04:40 pm IST
