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The EP paid tribute to the courage and strength of the Belarusian opposition
In the European Parliament, the Sakharov Prize was awarded to former Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
At a meeting of the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday, December 16, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for 2020 was presented. The prize was awarded to opponents from Belarus, reports TASS.
Therefore, among the winners named “democratic opposition in Belarus, which is represented by the Coordination Council”: former presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, writer Svetlana Aleksievich, activists Maria Kolesnikova, Olga Kovalkova, Veronika Tsepkalo.
“It is a great honor for me to present the 2020 Sakharov Prize to the democratic opposition in Belarus and to welcome Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and her fellow laureates here in the European Parliament. Today we pay tribute to their courage and strength,” said the president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli.
The Chairman of the Development Committee, Thomas Tobe, praised the bravery of the winners “not only to protest peacefully against the fact that they are trying to disperse them”, but also for “the courage to lead and be the initiators of change.”
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was established in 1988 by the European Parliament in honor of the Soviet physicist and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov. The award is given to people who have made “an exceptional contribution to the fight for freedom of thought and human rights around the world.”
Last year Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker convicted of terrorism in the Russian Federation, became the winner of the award.
Let us remind you that Tikhanovskaya calls on the United States to investigate the actions of the Belarusian security forces that brutally dispersed peaceful protests.
Earlier, Tikhanovskaya sent a letter to the Pope. In his message, he paid special attention to the head of the Roman Catholic Church of Belarus, Metropolitan Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz.
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