During a secret vote on Tuesday, 8 October, MEPs on the Foreign Affairs and Development Committees selected the finalists for the 2019 Sakharov Prize (see EUROPE 12338/14).
The first finalists were Brazilian: Chief Raoni, an emblematic figure in the fight against deforestation in the Amazon; Claudelice Silva dos Santos, an environmentalist and human rights defender; and, posthumously, Marielle Franco, an LGBTIQA human rights activist, who was murdered in March 2018. They were initially nominated by the S&D and GUE/NGL groups. Ms Franco had also been nominated by the Greens/EFA.
The Restorers were also chosen. These five Kenyan teenage girls created the i-Cut application 2 years ago to help girls who are victims of female genital mutilation (FGM). They were put forward by the ECR.
Previously nominated for the 2016 Sakharov Prize, Ilham Tohti—an activist for the rights of the Uyghur minority in China—was selected again this year at the suggestion of Renew Europe.
Other candidates for the prize were Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, who was nominated by the EPP, and Brazilian LGBTIQA rights activist Jean Wyllys, who was nominated by the Greens/EFA.
The European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents will decide the winner on Thursday, 24 October, and the prize will be awarded in Strasbourg on Wednesday, 18 December. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)