One of the journalists, behind bars in Belarus for covering anti-government rallies, refused to seek a pardon despite his heart condition. Another, jailed in Georgia, defiantly stood up at her trial and urged the opposition to keep protesting “until victory.”

On Wednesday, they were honored with the prize named for the late Andrei Sakharov, one of the Soviet Union’s most prominent human rights activists and symbols of courage.

Andrzej Poczobut of Belarus and Mzia Amaghlobeli of Georgia received the European Parliament's most prestigious human rights award after they were imprisoned on "trumped-up charges simply for doing their work and for speaking out against injustice,” said the body's president, Roberta Metsola.

"Their courage has made them symbols of the struggle for freedom a

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