Andrzej Poczobut and Mzia Amaglobeli awarded 2025 Sakharov Prize

Two imprisoned journalists, one in Belarus and the other in Georgia, are the laureates of the 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, to be awarded by the European Parliament on 16 December.

Announcing the laureates today, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said this year’s award “honours two journalists whose courage shines as a beacon for all who refuse to be silenced”. 

“Both have paid a heavy price for speaking truth to power, becoming symbols of the struggle for freedom and democracy. The Parliament stands with them, and with all those who continue to demand freedom,” Roberta Metsola said.

Andrzej Poczobut is a journalist, essayist, blogger and activist from the Polish minority in Belarus. Known for his outspoken criticism of the Lukashenka regime and his writings on history and human rights, he has been arrested many times. Detained since 2021, he was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony. Poczobut’s current state of health is unknown and his family is not allowed to visit.

In a resolution adopted on 15 March 2023, Parliament called for the immediate and unconditional release of Andrzej Poczobut, stating that the charges against him were “politically motivated” and “aimed at silencing independent voices and suppressing freedom of expression and association”.

Mzia Amaglobeli, a Georgian journalist and director of online media outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti, was arrested in January 2025 for joining anti-government protests in Georgia. In August, she was sentenced to two years in prison on political grounds. Georgia’s first female political prisoner since the country’s independence and a defender of freedom of expression, Amaglobeli has become the figurehead for Georgia’s pro-democracy protest movement, opposing the ruling ‘Georgian Dream’ party’s regime since the contested October 2024 elections.

In a resolution adopted on 19 June 2025, Parliament called for the immediate and unconditional release of Mzia Amaglobeli in Georgia, condemning “the Georgian Dream regime’s systemic attacks on democratic institutions, political opposition, independent media, civil society and the independence of the judiciary”.

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. Every year since 1988, Parliament has awarded it to individuals, groups or organisations in recognition of their work to defend human rights, freedom of expression and democratic values.

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