ELfR starts petition to nominate Volodymyr Zelenski for Sakharov Prize

European Liberals for Reform Bureau

Please sign our petition: https://chng.it/wXPBXjbFzt

Awarded for the first time in 1988 to Nelson Mandela and Anatoli Marchenko, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is the highest tribute paid by the European Union for human rights work. It gives recognition to individuals, groups and organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to protecting freedom of thought. Through the prize and its associated network the EU assists laureates, who are supported and empowered in their efforts to defend their causes.
We, the founders of European Liberals for Reform, namely Ben Burgers, Piotr Azia and Theresa Zettl would like to nominate the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

To us, Volodymyr Zelensky shows a heroic behavior by supporting his country and its inhabitants and not having taken the first opportunity to save himself by fleeing.
When Russian state propaganda claimed he had fled in the first few days of the conflict, Zelensky swiftly took to Twitter and fired off a video of himself, outside a famous Kyiv building, to prove that he had not. When the US offered to whisk him out of the country, he shot back with the brilliant one-liner: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”

The Ukrainian president is as prudent as he is courageous. He knows that his charisma alone cannot protect him and his family from the Russian hit squads that are hunting them down. He also knows that despite all the sanctions, all the kind words and promises of weapons, he ultimately stands all alone against the very real Vladimir Putin and the Russian military, therefore we think a nomination for an extraordinary Sakharov Prize is appropriate and reasonable.

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought

The prize has so far been awarded to dissidents, political leaders, journalists, lawyers, civil-society activists, writers, mothers, wives, minority leaders, an anti-terrorist group, peace activists, an anti-torture activist, a cartoonist, long-serving prisoners of conscience, a film-maker, the UN as a body and even a child campaigning for the right to education. It promotes in particular freedom of expression, the rights of minorities, respect for international law, the development of democracy and the implementation of the rule of law. Several laureates, including Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

The European Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize at a formal plenary sitting in Strasbourg towards the end of each year, with an endowment of EUR 50 000.

Each of the Parliament’s political groups may nominate candidates, as may individual MEPs (the support of at least 40 MEPs is required for each candidate). The nominees are presented at a joint meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Development Committee and the Human Rights Subcommittee, members of the full committees vote on a shortlist of three candidates. The final winner or winners of the Sakharov Prize are chosen by the Conference of Presidents, a European Parliament body led by the president, which includes the leaders of all the political groups represented in the Parliament, making the choice of laureates a truly European choice.

With your signature we are trying to convince individual MEPs to support us in our nomination.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us: t.zettl@elfr.eu

Author Profile

Theresa Zettl

Co-Founder of European Liberals for Reform
Chairperson of ELfR Working Group Health
ALDE Individual Members Steering Committee Member (2022-2023)

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