EU parliament awards Sakharov prize to Venezuelan opposition

Strasbourg (dpa) - The European Parliament awarded its prestigious Sakharov prize for freedom of thought to the Venezuelan opposition in a ceremony on Wednesday. Venezuela is embroiled in a deep political and economic crisis, following an attempt by President Nicolas Maduro to consolidate his power and strip the opposition-controlled National Assembly of its authority by creating a rival assembly to rewrite the country‘s constitution."The prize is for all Venezuelans in the world," EU Parliament President Antonio Tajani said at Wednesday‘s award ceremony, adding that it also went to the 300 people imprisoned by the regime."Human rights are being trampled on in an arbitrary and anti-democratic way," Tajani added."The whole country is receiving this," Julio Borges, the leader of the National Assembly in Venezuela, told the EU legislature in the French city of Strasbourg. "It‘s an acknowledgement for mothers denying themselves food to save their children, for children rummaging through the rubbish to stave their hunger," he added.The annual Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was established in 1988 by the EU parliament. It is awarded to those who have made an exceptional contribution to the fight for human rights across the globe.The first person ever to be awarded the 50,000-euro (58,717-dollar) prize was South Africa‘s Nelson Mandela in 1988, and previous winners include survivors of sexual enslavement by Islamic State and Saudi blogger Raif Badawi.