The European Parliament announced on Wednesday 20 October that it has decided to award its 2021 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Russian anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny.
A group of 11 Afghan women and Bolivian Jeanine Áñez were in the running for the prize, which will be awarded on 15 December in Strasbourg (see EUROPE 12812/14).
“In awarding the Sakharov Prize to Alexei Navalny, we recognise his incredible courage and reiterate the European Parliament's unwavering support for his immediate release”, said European Parliament President David Sassoli.
The EPP and Renew Europe groups, which had nominated Mr Navalny, welcomed the decision by the European Parliament Conference of Presidents.
For Rasa Juknevičienė (EPP, Lithuania), the prize is a “clear signal to the Kremlin regime that the European Parliament will continue to support the fight for democracy, for human rights and against corruption in Russia”.
According to the president of the Renew Europe group, Stéphane Séjourné (France), Parliament is “united behind the courage and sacrifices of a man who has become a symbol of the authoritarian excesses of the Russian regime”.
Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, Finland) said Mr Navalny had shown great courage in his attempts to restore the Russian people’s freedom of choice.
While congratulating Mr Navalny, S&D group chairwoman Iratxe García Pérez (Spain) explained that she would have liked the prize to have gone to the Afghan women her group had proposed. She warned that her group would stand by the women and defend their rights.
The Conference of Presidents has decided to organise a European week entirely dedicated to Afghan women. “We need to play a bigger role in dealing with this emergency and take more responsibility. The EU must be present in this crisis and send a strong message to all Afghan women and to the whole world, showing our solidarity with their struggle”, said Mr Séjourné. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)