The EU parliament awarded the bloc's Sakharov human rights prize on Wednesday to jailed Georgian journalist and editor Mzia Amaghlobeli and Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut, calling them symbols of the "struggle for freedom".

Amaghlobeli, 50, has emerged as a symbol of journalistic defiance to what critics see as a slide toward authoritarianism in her Black Sea nation -- once a top candidate for European Union membership.

Poczobut, 52, was jailed over his critical reporting, having refused to leave Belarus after its authoritarian government unleashed a crackdown on dissent, jailing hundreds and forcing most critics into exile.

"Both are journalists currently in prison on trumped-up charges simply for doing their work and for speaking out against injustice," European Parliam

See Full Page