{"id":5715,"date":"2024-12-20T13:20:59","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T13:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/?p=5715"},"modified":"2025-12-06T12:36:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T12:36:29","slug":"assedels-participation-sakharov-prize-award-ceremony-press-conference-and-breakfast-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/assedels-participation-sakharov-prize-award-ceremony-press-conference-and-breakfast-event\/","title":{"rendered":"ASSEDEL’s Participation: Sakharov Prize Award Ceremony, Press Conference and Breakfast Event"},"content":{"rendered":"

Award Ceremony<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Sakharov Prize Award Ceremony at the Hemicycle
of the European Parliament in Strasbourg<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cNo government based on violence is stable.\u201d With these words, Venezuelan president-elect Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia accepted the Sakharov prize awarded to him as well as to leader of Venezuelan democratic forces Mar\u00eda Corina Machado for their efforts to defend freedoms and democracy. The award ceremony took place on December 17th during the plenary session of the European Parliament. Mar\u00eda Corina Machado was represented at the ceremony by her daughter Ana Corina Sosa and joined the ceremony through a live stream to give a speech. During the live stream, Corina Machado denounced the oppressive politics of the Venezuelan government which have destroyed democratic institutions, divided the Venezuelan population and caused hyperinflation. Nonetheless, the immense protests by the opposition give Corina Machado hope for change. Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia adds: \u201cVenezuela\u2019s fight for freedom and democracy is the fight for these values in the whole world.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

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Press Conference with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and Venezuelan President-elect Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola awarded the Sakharov Prize, highlighting the laureates\u2019 fearless defence of justice, democracy and the rule of law. Metsola emphasized the Parliament\u2019s support for the Venezuelan people and for the country\u2019s struggle for a democratic future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prize Background<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is given annually since 1988 by the European Parliament to human rights defenders. Winners of the Sakharov Prize include South African politician and activist Nelson Mandela in 1988, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2021 and symbol of Iranian resistance Jina Mahsa Amini in 2023. The name of the prize honors Andrei Sakharov,  Soviet physicist and political dissident.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Situation in Venezuela<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar\u00eda Corina Machado had been chosen as the opposition candidate for the Venezuelan presidency, representing the ‘United Democratic Platform,’ but was later disqualified by the government-controlled National Electoral Council. Instead, Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia became the main opposition candidate in Venezuela\u2019s elections in July 2024. Despite evidence of Gonz\u00e1les Urrutia winning the elections, the presidency was once again given to Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. This has sparked anti-government protests in Venezuela, many of whose participants were arrested by security forces. Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez fled to Spain in September following an arrest warrant issued against him. He is planning on returning to Venezuela in January to take office as president.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sakharov Prize Breakfast<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASSEDEL had the pleasure to not only follow the Sakharov Prize and its Press Release at the European Parliament, but also participate in a breakfast on December 19th organized in honor of the 2024 laureates for the  Prize at the H\u00f4tel de Ville of Strasbourg. At this breakfast, Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia and Ana Corina Sosa spoke about the importance of Europe\u2019s support for the Venezuelan opposition and called for EU countries to follow suit with the European Parliament in recognizing Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia as the democratically elected President of Venezuela. Corina Sosa furthermore described the situation of Venezuelan\u2019s opposition,  including imprisonment, torture and living in exile. She spoke about her mother who was forced to go into hiding by herself after having been threatened to be arrested by Maduro\u2019s government.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Ana Corina Sosa and Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia at the H\u00f4tel De Ville in Strasbourg<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Award Ceremony \u201cNo government based on violence is stable.\u201d With these words, Venezuelan president-elect Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia accepted the Sakharov prize awarded…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[92,1507,1500,22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-actualites-fr","8":"category-evenements","9":"category-events","10":"category-news-eng"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cover_shakarov.png",1366,768,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cover_shakarov-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cover_shakarov-300x169.png",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cover_shakarov-768x432.png",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cover_shakarov-1024x576.png",1024,576,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cover_shakarov.png",1366,768,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cover_shakarov.png",1366,768,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cover_shakarov-18x10.png",18,10,true],"inhype-blog-thumb":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cover_shakarov-1140x694.png",1140,694,true],"inhype-blog-thumb-grid":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cover_shakarov-555x360.png",555,360,true],"inhype-blog-thumb-widget":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cover_shakarov-220x180.png",220,180,true],"inhype-blog-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cover_shakarov-360x202.png",360,202,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"assedel","author_link":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/author\/assedel\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Award Ceremony \u201cNo government based on violence is stable.\u201d With these words, Venezuelan president-elect Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia accepted the Sakharov prize awarded...","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5715"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5735,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5715\/revisions\/5735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}