Jailed journalists, Serbian students and Palestinian aid workers shortlisted for the Sakharov Prize

The European Parliament decided on Thursday the three finalists of the 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, awarded to individuals and organisations who have defended human rights, freedom of expression and democratic values.

This year, the shortlisted candidates are imprisoned journalists Andrzej Poczobut from Belarus and Mzia Amaglobeli from Georgia, journalists and humanitarian aid workers in Palestine and across all conflict zones, and Serbian students for their continuous nationwide protests.

Each political group of the Parliament presented a candidate. Journalist, essayist, and blogger from the Polish minority in Belarus, Poczobut, was nominated by the EPP and ECR groups.

His candidacy was paired with that of Amaglobeli, a Georgian journalist detained in 2025 for participating in an anti-government protest and imprisoned for two years on politically motivated charges.

The second entry, represented by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, the Red Crescent, and UNRWA, was put forward by the S&D group and backed by The Left, which itself nominated journalists in Palestine, specifically mentioning Hamza and Wael Al-Dahdouh, Plestia Alaqad, Shireen Abu Akleh and Ain Media.

The Serbian students who initiated nationwide protests after a railway station awning collapsed in Novi Sad in November 2024, killing 16, were selected by the liberal group Renew Europe.

Charlie Kirk not among the nominees

The Budapest Pride, nominated by the Greens/EFA group, the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansa, nominated by the Patriots for Europe (PfE) group, and the late US conservative activist Charlie Kirk, nominated by the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) group, have not gained enough votes to make it to the shortlist.

Kirk’s figure sparked controversy in the European Parliament, as a minute of silence to commemorate his death led to a political mudslinging during the Strasbourg plenary session in September.

His candidacy was supported by ESN members and some PfE MEPs, sources from the party told Euronews, but it was not enough to make it to the list.

“Charlie Kirk was a strongly divisive figure. He is for sure a victim, but he was sowing words of hate against certain minorities,” S&D MEP Marco Tarquinio told Euronews after the vote.

“On the contrary, the triad resulting from the vote includes entries in the full spirit of the Sakharov Prize: victims who do not give up, who do not use hate speech, nor legitimise it."

On the other side of the chamber, MEP from the Spanish far-right party Vox, Hermann Tertsch, praised Kirk’s legacy and criticised the inclusion of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate among the finalists.

“Palestinian journalists often mean members of Hamas,” he told Euronews.

The winner of the Sakharov Prize will be announced next Wednesday in Strasbourg. The decision will be taken by the Parliament’s Conference of Presidents, which includes President Roberta Metsola and the leaders of the eight political groups.

The award ceremony, which encompasses an allocation of 50,000 euros, will take place on 16 December in Strasbourg.

Named after Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, the Prize for Freedom of Thought has been awarded since 1988 to dissidents, political leaders, journalists, lawyers, and civil society activists, including figures such as South African anti-apartheid activist and first president Nelson Mandela and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Last year, the Sakharov Prize laureate was the recently-awarded Nobel Peace Prize recipient María Corina Machado, along with the other leader of the Venezuelan opposition, Edmundo González.