2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought: Andrzej Poczobut from Belarus and Mzia Amaglobeli from Georgia among finalists

Imprisoned journalists fighting “for your freedom and ours”, Andrzej Poczobut from Belarus and Mzia Amaglobeli from Georgia, are among the finalists of the 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Members of the Foreign Affairs and Development Committees of the European Parliament voted on Thursday morning for the three finalists of this year’s prize edition.

Two other finalists are Serbian students and journalists and Humanitarian Aid Workers in Palestine and all conflict zones, represented by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, the Red Crescent, and UNRWA.

Andrzej Poczobut is nominated by the groups of the European People’s Party and the European Conservatives and Reformists. He is a journalist, essayist, and blogger from the Polish minority in Belarus, known for his criticism of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, and has become a symbolic figure in the struggle for freedom and democracy in the country.

Poczobut has been repeatedly arrested by the authorities. Detained in 2021, he was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony. He has at times been held in solitary confinement without adequate medical treatment. His current condition is unknown and his family is denied any visits. Parliament has called for his immediate and unconditional release.

Mzia Amaglobeli and Georgia’s pro-democracy protest movement have been nominated by Rasa Juknevičienė (EPP, Lithuania) and 60 other MEPs. Mzia Amaglobeli, a Georgian journalist and director of online media outlets, was detained in 2025 for participating in an anti-government protest and imprisoned for two years on politically motivated charges.

The first female political prisoner in Georgia since its independence and a fighter for freedom of expression, she has become the symbol of Georgia’s pro-democracy protest movement that opposes the Georgian Dream regime after the October 2024 elections.

The award ceremony for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which includes an allocation of €50,000, will take place on 16 December 2025 in Strasbourg.

Named after Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is the EU’s highest distinction in the field of human rights. It is awarded by Parliament to individuals, groups or organisations each year in recognition of their work in support of human rights, freedom of expression and democratic values.

Several Sakharov Prize laureates have also won the Nobel Peace Prize, such as 2024 Sakharov Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado in Venezuela, who was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025, Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Denis Mukwege or Nadia Mourad.

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