The European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought has been awarded this year to Chinese political activist Hu Jia. With this year's award he European Parliament firmly and resolutely acknowledges the daily struggle for freedom of all Chinese human rights defenders. The prize ceremony will take place in Strasbourg on December 17th.

The award was announced by EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering, in Strasbourg, at the Plenary Session of the Chamber held on October 23rd.

Hu Jia is a prominent human rights activist and dissident in the People's Republic of China. He has embraced a wide range of causes, including environmental issues, HIV/AIDS advocacy and a call for an official enquiry into the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. He has also acted as a coordinator of the "barefoot lawyers movement".

Having already been arrested several times, he spoke to MEPs in November 2007 from house arrest via conference call during a public meeting of the EP Human Rights Subcommittee on human rights in China in the run-up to the Olympic Games. As a result he was charged by the authorities with "inciting subversion of state power" and sentenced on April 3rd, 2008 to three-and-a-half years in jail.

Protests against his arrest have come from all over the world. The European Parliament passed a resolution in January 2008 demanding his release. On August 8th, 2008 and September 6th, 2008, Hu Jia's name appeared alongside other signatories on open letters calling for more attention to be paid to human rights in China.

20th anniversary of Sakharov Prize

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named in honour of the Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, has been awarded by the European Parliament every year since 1988 to individuals or organisations who have made an important contribution to the fight for human rights or democracy.  To mark the 20th anniversary, a special event to which all previous winners of the prize are being invited will be held in Strasbourg on Tuesday December 16th.
 
This year's prize certificate will be awarded in Strasbourg the next day, Wednesday December 17th.  In addition to the title, the winner receives the sum of €50,000.

Previous winners of the Sakharov Prize

• 1988    Nelson Mandela and Anatoli Marchenko (posthumously)
• 1989    Alexander Dubcek
• 1990    Aung San Suu Kyi
• 1991    Adem Demaçi
• 1992    Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo
• 1993    Oslobodjenje
• 1994    Taslima Nasreen
• 1995    Leyla Zana
• 1996    Wei Jinsheng
• 1997    Salima Ghezali
• 1998    Ibrahim Rugova
• 1999    Xanana Gusmão
• 2000    ¡Basta Ya!
• 2001    Izzat Ghazzawi, Nurit Peled-Elhanan and Dom Zacarias Kamwenho
• 2002    Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas
• 2003    UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and all the UN staff
• 2004    Belarusian Association of Journalists
• 2005    Ladies in White, Hauwa Ibrahim, Reporters without Frontiers
• 2006    Alexander Milinkevich
• 2007    Salih Mahmoud Mohamed Osman