Strasbourg – Mzia Amaglobeli and Andrzej Poczobut. If the European Parliament wanted to send a clear signal to countries in the Eastern neighbourhood about the priority of human-rights protection—whether EU candidates or not, but nevertheless ruled by autocratic regimes—it has done so perfectly with the 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
The two journalists, imprisoned in Belarus and Georgia respectively, are set to receive the prize from the European Parliament on 16 December, following the announcement of the laureates by President Roberta Metsola on 22 October. “We honour two journalists whose courage shines as a beacon for all who refuse to be silenced,” she said, emphasising that “both have paid a heavy price for speaking truth to power, becoming symbols of the struggle for freedom and democracy.” For this reason, the EU institution “stands with them, and with all those who continue to demand freedom.”
The case of Mzia Amaglobeli in Georgia
Mzia Amaglobeli is the founder and editor of two of Georgia’s most prominent and trusted media outlets: Batumelebi, a local news source based in Batumi, and Netgazeti, a publication with nationwide coverage. On 12 January, she was arrested following the detention of several peaceful protesters in Batumi. In August, she was sentenced to two years in prison on political grounds. She became the first journalist since the end of the Soviet Union to be imprisoned in Georgia as a political detainee, and the first female political prisoner since the country’s independence.
In a resolution adopted in June 2025, the European Parliament called for Amaglobeli’s immediate and unconditional release, condemning “the Georgian Dream regime’s systemic attacks on democratic institutions, political opposition, independent media, civil society and the independence of the judiciary.” The Georgian journalist has become a symbol of Georgia’s pro-democracy protest movement, standing against the country’s authoritarian backslide following the rigged elections in October 2024.
The case of Andrzej Poczobut in Belarus
Andrzej Poczobut is a journalist, essayist, blogger and activist from the Polish minority in Belarus. Known for his outspoken criticism of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime and his writings on history and human rights, he has been arrested numerous times. Detained since 2021, he was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony. His health has since deteriorated, and despite not receiving the medical care he needs, he continues to fight for freedom and democracy.
In March 2023, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for his “immediate and unconditional release” and denouncing the “politically motivated” charges aimed at “silencing independent voices and suppressing freedom of expression and association.” The democratic opposition in Belarus was awarded the 2020 Sakharov Prize, and the leader of the Belarusian democratic forces, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya—exiled since 2020—has addressed the plenary session several times, including on 22 October 2025 alongside her husband, Sergey Tikhanovsky—a political prisoner who was recently released.
What is the Sakharov Prize
Named after Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is the highest tribute paid by the European Union to human-rights work. It recognises individuals, groups and organisations that have made an exceptional contribution to defending freedom of thought, and supports the efforts to defend their causes with a €50,000 endowment.
The prize was first awarded in 1988 to Nelson Mandela and Anatoli Marchenko. Since then, laureates have included dissidents, political leaders, journalists, lawyers, civil-society activists, writers, mothers and wives, minority leaders, anti-terrorist and anti-torture groups, peace campaigners, cartoonists and film-makers, and even the UN as a whole.
Many Sakharov Prize recipients have gone on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Most recently, 2024 laureate Maria Corina Machado of Venezuela was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Other notable examples include Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Denis Mukwege, Nadia Murad, Ales Bialiatski and Oleksandra Matviichuk.
The European Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize at a formal plenary session in Strasbourg every year. Candidates may be nominated by each political group or by individual MEPs, provided they have the support of at least 40 MEPs. The nominees are then reviewed at a joint meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Development Committee and the Human Rights Subcommittee, whose members vote to produce a shortlist of three candidates. The final winner—or winners—are selected by the Conference of Presidents, a body chaired by the president and composed of the leaders of all political groups, ensuring that the choice of laureates reflects a truly European consensus.
