More than a hundred deputies of the European Parliament signed an appeal to EP Speaker David Sassoli with the initiative to open a permanent office of the Sakharov Prize winners in Brussels, which this year was won by representatives of the Belarusian opposition, the press service of the European People’s Party (EPP) told RIA Novosti.
The deputies propose to announce this decision as early as Wednesday at the Sakharov Prize for Fighting in Human Rights.
“Then everything will depend on the Speaker of the European Parliament David Sassoli. As can be concluded from the appeal of the deputies, they hope that Sassoli will take the necessary decision and announce the creation of such an office as early as Wednesday (December 16 – ed.) during the award ceremony”, – said the interlocutor of the agency.
In their address to Sassoli, MEPs, in particular, emphasize the need to provide the laureates with office and administrative resources to carry out human rights activities.
“The time has come for the European Parliament to take the next step in protecting human rights and provide Sakharov Prize winners with the office and administrative capacity to help them fight for human rights and democratic values. This is the European Parliament Sakharov Prize Office, provided for a year before the next award Prize, can give the necessary support to the laureates, become a platform for uniting the efforts of many Sakharov Prize winners in the struggle for democratic values”, – the deputies wrote in an appeal to Sassoli.
They added that if the “Sakharov Prize Community Office” is created in 2020 and by the end of 2021, it will be provided to representatives of the Belarusian opposition.
The Belarusian opposition, including the former presidential candidate of Belarus Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, won the Academician Andrei Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament in 2020. The award ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday 16 December in Brussels.
In September, the EP unveiled a list of five nominees for the annual award. It includes, in particular, the Belarusian opposition represented by Tikhanovskaya and other activists. Environmental activists from Honduras and Iraqi Archbishop Najib Moussa Michaelb, who defended the Christians of Mosul from the atrocities of IS*, also became candidates for the award.