Hi u tilqa’ lir-rebbieħ tal-Premju Sakharov Andrzej Poczobuk fil-Parlament Ewropew, il-President Roberta Metsola qalet li l-Parlament Ewropew mhux se jieqaf sakemm il-priġunieri politiċi kollha jinħelsu.
Dear Andrzej, Here you are, at long last. We have waited years for this moment. Hoping, praying and working for your release. It is so good to see you here, in this House, amongst your friends. On Tuesday 28th April, the world breathed a sigh of relief as the first images reached us. After 1,860 stolen days, more than five years of your life, you and four other political prisoners crossed onto Polish soil. Safe. Free. After all this time. You said that you felt three emotions that day: joy, joy and joy. Andrzej, so did we. You were arrested for telling the truth. For defending your community. For refusing to back down. Month after month, year after year, Lukashenko’s regime tried everything to break you. And it failed. Through all those years, you never stopped standing for the freedoms that this House defends. That is why this Parliament awarded you the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which you share with the Georgian journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli, who is still behind bars, and who remains in our thoughts. Because your story, Andrzej, is not the whole story. As we speak, many more journalists and political prisoners remain locked away. Last year, Members of this House sent more than 900 postcards to political prisoners in Belarus. Nine hundred reminders that they are not alone. So today, from this chamber, we send a message, loud enough to be heard through the walls of every prison cell in Belarus, in Georgia, in every country where the truth is stifled: you are not forgotten. Europe stands with you. And we will not stop until every last one of you is free. Andrzej, it is now my great honour to give you the floor.