Brussels, 09/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Liberal Group in the European Parliament has selected the person it will be putting forward for the Sakharov Prize, awarded by the EP since 1988 to people fighting for freedom of thought and human rights, namely Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya Sardinas. In a press release, the Liberals explain that Sardinas has united the opposition behind the Varela Project that gathered "more than 11,000 signatures calling for a referendum on democratic transition." Swedish Liberal Cecilia Malmström, very active in the Cuban democracy movement, said Sardinas was "the perfect candidate for the Sakharov prize, as he uses peaceful means to establish dialogue and democracy in a cruel dictatorship". The 2002 Sakharov Prize will be awarded in Strasbourg on 18 December. (The Socialist group has nominated Zimbabwean opposition activist Morgan Tsvangirai, the Greens/EFA Russian journalist Grigory Pasko, and AN MEP Cristiana Muscardini the late Commander Massoud - see Europe of 30 August, p.3 and 7 September, p.7.)