During the EP Plenary session (03-06/10) in Strasbourg, MEPs present the candidates&nbsp;to the&nbsp;Sakharov Prize 2016. Statements by Marie-Christine VERGIAT (GUE/NGL, FR), Ska KELLER (Greens/EFA, DE), Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (EFDD, IT), Jacek SARYUSZ-WOLSKI (EPP, PL), Tunne KELAM (EPP, EE), Charles TANNOCK (ECR, UK), Josef WEIDENHOLZER (S&amp;D, AU), Beatriz BECERRA BASTERRECHEA (ALDE, ES), Ilhan KYUCHYUK (ALDE, BG).

Strasbourg

plenary session

WEIDENHOLZER, Josef (S&D, AT)

VERGIAT, Marie-Christine (GUE/NGL, FR)

BECERRA BASTERRECHEA, Beatriz (ALDE, ES)

CASTALDO, Fabio Massimo (NI, IT)

KELLER, Ska (Greens/EFA, DE)

TANNOCK, Timothy Charles Ayrton (ECR, UK)

KELAM, Tunne (EPP, EE)

Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought 2016 (T)

AJI BASHAR, Lamiya

KYUCHYUK, Ilhan (Renew, BG)

MURAD BASEE, Nadia (IQ)

Sakharov Prize Network

SARYUSZ-WOLSKI, Jacek (ECR, PL)

DÜNDAR, Can

DZHEMILEV, Mustafa

Sakharov Prize 2016: Presentation of candidates

SOUNDBITE (French), Marie-Christine VERGIAT (GUE/NGL, FR), Presenting the candidacy of Can D&uuml;ndarn: On the 26 November 2015 Can D&uuml;ndarn has been locked up together with his colleague Erdem G&uuml;l, and spent 92 days in prison. In May 2016 he escaped an attempt of assassination in front of a Court building when he was on his way to a press conference to comment on the verdict that had just been handed down against him for supposedly trying to overthrow the government

SOUNDBITE (English), Ska KELLER (Greens/EFA, DE), Presenting the candidacy of Can D&uuml;ndarn: By awarding the Sakharov Prize 2016 to Can D&uuml;ndarn, the EP would also honour itself by reminding the EU and its member states of its unshakable attachment to a pluralist and a democratic Turkey.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (EFDD, IT), Presenting the candidacy of Can D&uuml;ndarn: I am not asking you for a vote against Turkey, I am asking you to vote in favour of its civil society and give them our support and sending a message of hope for the future. Can D&uuml;ndarn has been sent into exile, if we accept that we accept that people can no longer live in a so-called democracy, exile from the rule of law.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jacek SARYUSZ-WOLSKI (EPP, PL), Presenting the candidacy of Mustafa Dzhemilev: He was deported from Crimea at the age of 6 months and grew up in exile, imprisoned in 1968 in Soviet Union by protesting against of the invasion of Czechoslovakia already. He spent for that 15 years in prison. Today he continues his fight for human rights of the annexed by Russia Ukrainian Crimea and for the right of his people Crimean Tatars.

SOUNDBITE (English), Tunne KELAM (EPP, EE), Presenting the candidacy of Mustafa Dzhemilev: I think it&rsquo;s important to send a signal now for a man who stands up not only for the rights of Crimean Tatars, who are directly threatened; their future is absolutely unclear, but who is standing up for the rights of Ukrainians, for Russians.. on every field.

SOUNDBITE (English), Charles TANNOCK (ECR, UK), Presenting the candidacy of Mustafa Dzhemilev: Mustafa Dzhemilev spent a lifetime as an activist for freedom and fighting injustice. And 70 years after his deportation and 25 years after his return, he represents the moral and political leadership of the Crimean national Tatar movement, and has become a symbol of the struggle to retain Crimea within Ukraine and fight for minority rights.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef WEIDENHOLZER (S&amp;D, AU), Presenting the candidacy of Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Bashar: By nominating Nadia Murad and Lamiya Bashar, the S&amp;D group would like to pay tribute to all the women and girls who are the first victims in case of conflict and to all religious and ethnic minorities which are victims of genocide. By terrorising and targeting Yazidi women the fighters of DAESH are deliberately initiating ethnic cleansing by using systematic rape as a weapon of war. The same tactic was used in Bosnia and it&rsquo;s still used in the Great Lakes region in Africa.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Beatriz BECERRA BASTERRECHEA (ALDE, ES), Presenting the candidacy of Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Basha: We have two very young women, both victims that have been terribly courageous and have decided, despite so much suffering, that they don&rsquo;t want to be victims anymore. They have suffered all kind of physical and psychological abuses and they have decided to stand up and fight for human rights. That is why they are so right for this candidacy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ilhan KYUCHYUK (ALDE, BG), Presenting the candidacy of Ilham Tohti: The ideals and the values for which Ilham Tohti has been persecuted and imprisoned are of significant importance in modern democratic societies. Regardless of his ethnicity and religion Ilham Tohti is a thinker who believes in human rights, the rule of law, peaceful coexistence among ethnic groups and a democratic future for China. He has experienced his freedom of expression in the face of threats, detention, house arrest and other attempts by the state to prevent him to speak about the repression and marginalisation of the Uyghurs and another minorities as a people.