The European Parliament to freedom of conscience to journalists Andrzej Poczobut, from Belarus, and Mzia Amaglobeli, from Georgia, both currently imprisoned.
When announcing the winners in the chamber, at noon this Wednesday, the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, declared that, with this award, “two journalists are honored whose courage is a beacon for those who refuse to be silenced. Both have paid a high price for speaking truth to power, becoming symbols of the fight for freedom and democracy. Parliament supports them and supports all those who continue to demand freedom.”
Andrzej Poczobut is a journalist, essayist, blogger, musician and activist of the Polish minority in Belarus. Known for his open criticism of the Old Continent’s longest-serving dictator, and his writings on history and human rights, he has been arrested on numerous occasions. Detained since 2021, he was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Belarusian by birth and of Polish descent, in 2005 he headed the Council of the Union of Poles in Belarus, which was not recognized by the Belarusian authorities, who appointed new leaders of the organization of the Polish minority, the second largest in Belarus after the Russian one. Since 2006 he was a correspondent for the Polish ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’, the second most read newspaper in Poland, after a long career in various media and, also, in the anarcopunkof which he was a pioneer in his country. In 2011 he received the Andrzej Wojciechowski Prize, which has been awarded since 2005 to the best journalistic work that has had a significant impact on the consciousness of Poles. That same year, a judge sentenced him to three years in prison for “insulting” and “slandering” Lukashenko, but he was eventually acquitted and released.
Ten years later he was arrested again in Grodno and placed in Minsk Pretrial Detention Center No. 1. On February 8, 2023, the Grodno Regional Court sentenced him to 8 years in prison for violating national security and inciting “national, religious and social discord.” Among the aggravating factors was the fact that he referred to the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 as an act of “aggression.” That same year, the Ministry of the Interior included Poczobut on the “List of Belarusian citizens, foreign citizens or stateless persons involved in extremist activities.”
His health has deteriorated since then, but, despite not receiving the medical care he needs, he continues to fight for freedom and democracy, as he denounces. Poczobut’s current health status is unknown and his family is not allowed to visit.
In a resolution adopted on March 15, 2023, Parliament demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Andrzej Poczobut, stating that the charges against him were “politically motivated” and “aimed at silencing independent voices and repressing freedom of expression and association.”
Belarus, for the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), of the world in its classification on press freedom, that is, in the caboose. “Belarus, the most dangerous country in Europe for journalists until the Russian invasion of Ukraine, continues its massive repression against independent media,” it states. “The media have never been so repressed by the authorities as after the controversial re-election of Aleksander Lukashenko as president of the country, in August 2020. A paradigmatic case is the most famous information website in Belarus, Tut.by, which has had its media status withdrawn, has been censored, has suffered searches, has been the subject of criminal complaints and, finally, has been labeled as “extremist” and banned, like most independent media. Some continue to publish from their place of exile. Only the state media BTRC continues to function normally and spread the regime’s propaganda,” he summarizes.
A protester holds a portrait of Andrzej Poczobut during the demonstration in Poland.
A slap to the regime
Mzia Amaglobeli, a Georgian journalist and director of the digital media Batumelebi and Netgazeti, was arrested in January 2025 for participating in anti-government protests in Georgia. His arrest and denunciation went global when he slapped a police chief, as part of a movement that complained against the postponement of the country’s accession negotiations to the European Union (EU). “Amaglobeli is the face of the Georgian resistance, as well as a fighter for democracy, honor and the European future,” said Salomé Zurabishvili, former Georgian president, at the time.
The informant, 50 years old and considered the first political prisoner since Georgia’s independence from the USSR in 1991, had already been awarded for the same reason less than two weeks ago with the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize. “Freedom for Mzia!” read the banners that can be seen for months at opposition protests in this country. He has become, through his bravery, the leading figure in his nation’s pro-democracy protest movement, opposing the ruling party’s regime since the controversial October 2024 elections.
In August, she was sentenced to two years in prison for political reasons. Today, she is in Women’s Colony number 5 in Rustavi, where her health has deteriorated significantly. After handing down the sentence, the judge suggested that she go to the president of the country to grant her a pardon, but she flatly refused, claiming that she was spat on and assaulted at the police station.
Amaglobeli is the founder of two newspapers of the Adzharian autonomy, called Don’t call them (2001) y Netgazeti (2010), which are also very popular in the rest of the Caucasian country and which were awarded for their fight against repression and censorship, while their Russian editions were blocked by Moscow. Don’t call them faces closure after the Government froze its bank accounts, reports EFE.
In this case, in RSF, Georgia fell 26 places and is in position 103. The dossier highlights the deterioration of press freedom, due to frequent verbal and physical attacks on journalists, even by state representatives. “The interference of the authorities undermines the efforts undertaken to improve press freedom. The context continues to be hostile for independent media and those close to the opposition, with a growing number of verbal and physical attacks against journalists. In addition, the approval of laws on “foreign influence” and “family values” marginalizes media professionals, threatens them with censorship and reduces the space for freedom of expression,” it elaborates. the NGO.
Protest in front of the Georgian Public Broadcasting (GPB) building, demanding the freedom of journalist Mzia Amaglobeli, on January 29, 2025, in Tbilisi, Georgia.
On October 16, the European Parliament already selected the finalists for the award, among whom, apart from the now-known winner, were also humanitarian workers and , as well as the students who began the competition as finalists for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Conscience. The candidacies that have finally prevailed, those of the two European informants, were raised by the groups of the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), in the case of the Belarusian, and by the Lithuanian parliamentarian of the PP Rasa Jikneviciene, in the case of the Georgian.
The winner of the prize, which is awarded every year by the European Chamber and is endowed with 50,000 euros, will be announced on October 23 during the plenary session in Strasbourg and presented on December 16 at a ceremony also in the French city.
What and why
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Conscience, awarded for the first time in 1988 to Nelson Mandela and Anatoli Marchenko, is the highest tribute paid by the European Union to work in the field of human rights. It is the expression of recognition to individuals, groups and organizations for their extraordinary contribution to the protection of freedom of conscience. “With the award and through the network linked to it, the European Union supports the winners, reinforcing and promoting their efforts in defending their cause,” .
So far, the prize has been awarded to dissidents, political leaders, journalists, lawyers, civil society activists, writers, mothers, wives, minority leaders, an anti-terrorist group, peace activists, an anti-torture activist, a cartoonist, people imprisoned for a long period for reasons of conscience, a film director, the United Nations as an agency and even a girl fighting for the right to education. It promotes, in particular, freedom of expression, minority rights, respect for international law, the development of democracy and the application of the rule of law.
Each of the political groups in Parliament can propose candidates, as can the deputies, in their personal capacity (the support of at least forty deputies is required per proposed candidate). The proposed candidates are presented at a joint meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Development Committee and the Human Rights Subcommittee, in which all members vote on the basis of a list of three finalists. The final winner or winners are chosen each year by the Conference of Presidents, a body of the European Parliament coordinated by the president and made up of the presidents of all the political groups represented in Parliament, “which makes the election of the winner a truly European decision,” he concludes.
