The Kremlin denounced Thursday the decision of the European Parliament to award its Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought to the imprisoned opponent Alexeï Navalny, bête noire of Vladimir Putin.
"
We respect this institution (the European Parliament, editor's note), but no one can force us to have respect for such a decision,
" reacted the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov.
The 2021 Sakharov Prize for the defense of freedom of thought was awarded on Wednesday to the opponent to salute his “
relentless
”
fight
for democracy and against corruption in his country.
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European Parliament awards 2021 Sakharov Prize to Alexei Navalny
After surviving in 2020 a poisoning of which he accuses the Kremlin, Alexeï Navalny was arrested in early 2021 and then sentenced to more than two years in prison, a sentence he is serving in the Pokrov penal colony. Conspired by the official media, Alexeï Navalny has built a reputation online, with viral video investigations lambasting the corruption of the elites and Vladimir Putin, his hobbyhorse. The Russian president never speaks his name and considers his number one detractor a "
criminal
" in the service of his Western geopolitical rivals. Several senior Russian officials are subject to European and American sanctions in retaliation for the Russian refusal to investigate the poisoning of Mr. Navalny.
Read alsoRussia: Navalny's networks threatened with annihilation by justice
European laboratories have identified a nerve agent of the Novichok family, a chemical developed in Soviet times and which the Russian secret services have already been accused of using to try to eliminate their targets.
Launched in 1988, the Sakharov Prize "
for the freedom of the mind
" rewards every year people or organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms.
It is endowed with a sum of 50,000 euros.
On several occasions the prize has served as the antechamber of the Nobel Peace Prize, as for the Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege and the Yazidie Nadia Murad, the young Pakistani Malala Yousafzai or even Nelson Mandela, the first winner of the Sakharov Prize.
