European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced that this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought goes to imprisoned journalists Andrzej Poczobut of Belarus and Mzia Amaghlobeli of Georgia.

"Both are journalists currently in prison on trumped up charges simply for doing their work and for speaking out against injustice. Their courage has made them symbols of the struggle for freedom and democracy," Metsola said at the parliament in Strasbourg, France.

What do we know about the winners?

Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut, 52, is a correspondent for Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

He was sentenced by Belarus to eight years in jail in February 2023 over his critical reporting, in which he covered mass protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko five years ago, refusing to leave the country even when the regime carried out a brutal clampdown on dissent.

He is serving his sentence in the Novopolotsk penal colony.

Georgian journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli, 50, was sent to jail in August for two years on charges of using "resistance, threat or violence" against an official.

Her sentence is seen as a response to her investigations into public spending and abuse of office in the Black Sea nation, which critics see as moving toward authoritarianism.

 Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher