BRUSSELS – The European Union has awarded its highest human rights accolade, the Sakharov Prize, to two journalists currently imprisoned in Belarus and Georgia. This announcement was made by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Wednesday.

Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist for the respected Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, is serving an eight-year prison sentence in the Novopolotsk penal colony. He was found guilty of “harming Belarus’ national security.”

Mzia Amaghlobeli, an influential journalist and founder of two independent media outlets in Georgia, was sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted of slapping a police chief during an anti-government protest in August. Rights organizations have criticized her conviction, viewing it as an attempt to suppress media freedom.

“These journalists are imprisoned on fabricated charges simply for performing their duties and speaking out against injustice. Their bravery has made them symbols of the fight for freedom and democracy,” Metsola stated during her address at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.