From the Strasbourg correspondent – Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli and Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut, who are imprisoned by the regimes in Tbilisi and Minsk, have been awarded the 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Roberta Metsola made the announcement today (October 22): “The Parliament stands by them and by all those who continue to fight for freedom,” promised the President of the European Parliament.
Amaglobeli and Poczobut were joint candidates of the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) groups. The other two finalists were Palestinian journalists and aid workers, nominated by the Social Democrats (S&D) group, and Serbian students, nominated by the Renew Liberals. “We pay tribute to two journalists whose courage shines like a beacon for all those who refuse to be silenced. Both paid a high price for speaking truth to power, becoming symbols of the struggle for freedom and democracy,” said Metsola. Just today, the Strasbourg Chamber hosted the two Belarusian opposition leaders, Sergey Tihanovski and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
Andrzej Poczobut is a journalist, essayist, blogger, and activist belonging to the Polish minority in Belarus. Known for his outspoken criticism of the Lukashenko regime and his writings on history and human rights, he has been arrested several times. Detained since 2021, he was sentenced to eight years in a penal colony. His health has deteriorated and, despite not receiving the necessary medical treatment, he continues to fight for freedom and democracy. His health condition is currently unknown, and his family cannot visit him.
In a resolution adopted on March 15, 2023, the European Parliament demanded Poczobut’s immediate and unconditional release, stating that the accusations against him were due to “political motives” and “aimed at silencing independent voices and repressing freedom of expression and association.”
Mzia Amaglobeli, a Georgian journalist and editor-in-chief of the online newspapers Batumelebi and Netgazeti, was arrested in January 2025 for participating in anti-government protests in Georgia. The following August, she was sentenced to two years in prison for political reasons. The first female political prisoner in Georgia since the country’s independence and a defender of freedom of expression, Amaglobeli has become the symbol of Georgia’s pro-democracy protest movement opposing the Georgian Dream party regime after the disputed October 2024 elections.
In June 2025, the European Parliament demanded Mzia Amaglobeli’s immediate and unconditional release, condemning the Georgian Dream regime’s “systematic attacks on democratic institutions, political opposition, independent media, civil society, and the independence of the judiciary.” The following month, the Strasbourg Chamber passed a resolution in which it deplored the democratic backsliding and repression in the EU candidate country, calling on the European Commission and Member States to impose targeted sanctions on key officials of the Georgian Dream party and on the European Commission to review the implementation of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement.
