Europarl Today: The 20th Sakharov Prize honours Chinese dissident Hu Jia
337 views · Published 10 October 2012 · 2:58 · Indexed 21 October 2026
Channel: European Parliament · 2012 · News & Politics
The chair remained empty. Jailed by Chinese authorities for the past 3 years, Hu Jia couldn't receive the 2008 Sakharov Prize, an award the EP has been bestowing for the past 20 years for freedom of thought. Hu Jia, 35, is a Human Rights activist. He dedicated himself to various causes: environment, AIDS patients and asked for an official enquiry on the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Under house arrest, his wife could address MEPs by video. Why is the human rights work done by Hu Jia so difficult? I think this is mainly because China's legel system is not satisfactory. There are laws, there are all sorts of articles and regulations, some are well written but they are not applied. In reality, the situation of the rule of law is disastrous. For the 20th anniversary, Elena Bonner, Andrey Sakharov's widow, copresided the ceremony. Most of former Sakharov Prize winners or their representatives were present. Just like Hu Jia, Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi wasn't there, still under arrest, she was awarded the Sakharov Prize in 1990 and the Peace Nobel Prize, the following year. She was represented by a young Burmese. By being awarded to people or charities, the Sakharov Prize often conveyed publicity and credibility. It was the case of Basta Ya in 2000, a Spanish citizen initiative fighting, among others, against terrorism in the Basque country. It was a great push of international recognition, but less so at national level. It was very good: it opened up people's minds. People realised that the ETA was no romantic group but a terrorist one. It helped a lot. The Sakharov Prize goes with 50,000 euros. Some MEPs want to send a delegation to China to hand in the sum to Hu Jia's wife. EuroparlTV video ID: 62e9c362-2e24-41df-911a-5716e08fe597
