Strasbourg, 26/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Conference of President of political groups in the European Parliament decided, on Thursday, to allocate the "Sakharov prize for freedom of thought" to the citizen's initiative in favour of human rights democracy and tolerance in the Basque country, "Basta Ya!". This prize, of EUR 50,000, will be handed by the President Nicole Fontaine during a sombre session planned for the EP plenary session in November in Strasbourg.
The Spanish movement obtained 456 votes (EPP/DE, ESP and GUE/NGL groups), 63 against (V/ALE and TDI) for the Tibetan nun Ngawang Sangdrol, 51 votes (ELDR) for the Ugandan Angelina Acheng Atyam who is fighting against the recruitment of child-soldiers and 16 votes (EDD) for the Russian journalist Andrei Babitsky. The UEN group did not take part in the vote.