The European Parliament on Thursday awarded the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Human Rights to the imprisoned Ukrainian director Oleg Sintsov in honor of his "extraordinary contribution to the struggle for human rights in the world," as declared by the political blocs.
Sintsov descended from the Ukrainian Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, imprisoned in a Russian facility near the Arctic Circle.
Sintsov, a father of two, was arrested in May 2014 at his home and sentenced in August 2015 to 20 years in prison after being convicted of "terrorism" at the end of a trial described by Amnesty International as "Stalinist."
He began a hunger strike in mid-May demanding the release of all Ukrainian "political prisoners" in Russia. The strike was halted in early October to avoid being forced to eat.
The award, made in 1988, is awarded annually to individuals or organizations that have made an "extraordinary contribution to the struggle for human rights in the world".
Since the award was made, many Nobel Peace Prize winners have since been awarded, starting with Nelson Mandela, who was the first to receive the Sakharov Prize in 1993 or Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In 2018, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Yazidis Nadia Murad, who won the Sakharov Prize in 2016, and Congolese Womens Dentist Denis Mukwigi (winner of the Sakharov Prize in 2014).
