Two journalists, one imprisoned in Belarus and the other in Georgia, have won the European Union’s top human rights honor, the Sakharov Prize, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced on Wednesday 22 October 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 in August convicted 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,” Metsola said at the parliament in Strasbourg, France.
For more on the annual EU award, named after Soviet dissident Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/BDE3E41A-8706-42F1-A6C5-ECBBC4CDB449
The winner is chosen by senior EU lawmakers from among candidates nominated by the European Parliament’s various political groups. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2025/10/02/2025-nominees-for-the-european-sakharov-prize/]
https://spring96.org/en/news/118943
https://www.rferl.org/a/sakharov-prize-2025-andrzej-poczobut-mzia-amaglobeli-/33566711.html
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.