Chinese dissident awarded EP human rights prize

A jailed, Chinese political activist, Hu Jia, has been awarded the EU's top human rights prize.

The official announcement, which was not well received by Chinese authorities, was made by EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering during the chamber's plenary session in Strasbourg this week.

According to Mr Pöttering, the EP's political group leaders' decision to award Hu Jia was a political message to China.

"By awarding the Sakharov Prize to Hu Jia the EP firmly and resolutely acknowledges the daily struggle for freedom of all Chinese human rights defenders," he told MEPs.

Hu Jia is a prominent human rights activist and dissident in the People's Republic of China who has embraced a wide range of causes, including environmental issues, HIV/AIDS, and a call for an official enquiry into the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Last year, he spoke to MEPs while he was under house arrest, via a conference call, during a public meeting of the EP Human Rights Subcommittee on human rights in China, in the run-up to the Olympic Games.

Consequently, he was charged by authorities for "inciting subversion of state power" and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail.

Protests against his arrest have come from all over the world, and the EP passed a resolution in January demanding his release.

The official award ceremony of the Sakharov prize will be held during the EP's plenary session in December.