Cuba dissident Farinas awarded Sakharov Prize by EU Skip to main content

Cuba dissident Farinas awarded Sakharov Prize by EU

The European Parliament has awarded its Sakharov human rights prize to Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas.
In July Mr Farinas, 48, ended a hunger strike after Cuba's communist government announced it was freeing 52 political prisoners.
During his campaign for human rights he has staged more than 20 hunger strikes and spent more than 11 years in prison.
An Israeli human rights watchdog and an Ethiopian opposition activist had also been nominated for the prize.
Mr Farinas, a psychologist, journalist and former soldier, had been near death while on hunger strike this year, doctors said.
The MEPs who nominated him for the prestigious award called him "a beacon of hope for dozens of journalists and activists who are currently in prison".

Cubans have been awarded the prize twice before: dissident Oswaldo Paya in 2002 and the Ladies in White group of women whose husbands are jailed in Cuba, who won the award in 2005.

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Announcing the award on Thursday, the parliament president Jerzy Buzek said Mr Farinas "was ready to sacrifice and risk his own health and life as a means of pressure to achieve change in Cuba".
"I hope to hand over the award to him in person, here in Strasbourg, in December, which would be a tremendous moment for the European Parliament and for all Cuban prisoners of conscience.
"I sincerely hope that, together with Guillermo Farinas, the Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco), another Cuban Sakharov laureate from 2005, will also be able to collect their Sakharov Prize in person."

GUILLERMO FARINAS

  • One of best-known Cuban dissidents; staged more than 20 hunger strikes
  • Ended four-month hunger strike in July
  • Supporter of non-violent protest, said he was ready to die in fight for human rights in Cuba
  • Trained and worked as a psychologist
  • Independent journalist and founder of independent Cubanacan Press
  • Received several international human rights awards
The European Union, like the US, has urged Cuba for years to free political prisoners and improve human rights.
The Sakharov Prize was named after the late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov and was first awarded in 1988. It includes a cash award of 50,000 euros.
The Russian human rights group Memorial won the award last year.
Spain has called on the EU to normalise relations with Cuba, but the Czech Republic and Slovakia - former communist bloc countries - are among the member states against that idea.
EU foreign ministers are due to discuss relations with Cuba next week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11594804
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