The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian people, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Brazilian eco-activist Sonia Guajajara, and the Colombian Comision de Verdad are among the nominees for the 2022 Sakharov prize for Freedom of Thought, which the European Parliament awards.

Each year, European Parliament political groups present their candidates in September. Nominated candidates must receive the support of at least 40 EU lawmakers. The deadline for presenting the candidacies was 15 September, reports Euroactive.

Zelensky's candidacy is supported by the European People's Party (EPP), European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), and Renew, while socialists and EPP group support the Ukrainian civil society.

"We have no doubts that the brave people of Ukraine, lead by President Volodymyr Zelensky, deserve to win this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought," said EPP MEP Rasa Juknevičienė, vice-chair of foreign affairs in a press release after presenting the nominee."

"Since February, the people of Ukraine have been fighting an unequal battle against the brutal aggressor who is trampling on the human rights, countless civilians. Yet they stands steadfast in defence of their country but also for our European democracy and freedom" said S&D MEP for foreign affairs Pedro Marques

The Italian "Five Star Movement" nominated Julian Assange, who, according to MEP Sabrina Pignedoli, is "the symbol of citizens' right to know the truth."

The Greens nominated Brazilian environmental activist Sonia Guajajara, an indigenous woman named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Meanwhile, a left-wing group has backed la Comision de Verdad colombiana (Colombian commission for the truth), an autonomous entity of the Colombian state that seeks to investigate the patterns and causes of the country's armed conflict that started in the late 1940s.

The Sakharov Prize is the European Union's main human rights award.

Last year, the Sakharov Prize was awarded to the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, in 2020 to representatives of the Belarusian opposition, and in 2018 to Ukrainian director Oleh Sentsov.