Sａkharｏv hｕmａn rｉghts prize awarded to China's Hｕ
ｊiａ Hｕ
ｊiａ's wife Zｅng Jｉｎyａn sent a video message from house arrest in Beijing The award of the 2008 Sａkharｏv prize for hｕmａn rｉghts to jailed Chinese dissident Hｕ
ｊiａ took place at midday Wednesday. In his absence his wife gave an emotional and moving video message from under house arrest in Beijing to MEPs today. Zｅng Jｉｎyａn spoke about her husband's poor health and his continued fight for hｕmａn rｉghts. A symbolic empty chair was in the middle of the Chamber for Hｕ
ｊiａ. Zｅng Jｉｎyａn said she had been forbidden by prison guards to discuss the prize when she last visited her husband on 21 November: "We were both warned...that we were forbidden to talk about the fact that he had been awarded the Sａkharｏv Prize."
President Hans-Gert Pöttering said Hｕ
ｊiａ "was nominated as the representative of the silenced voices of China and Tibet, but today we will hear that voice."
Elena Bonner, the widow of Andrei Sａkharｏv, was also in the Chamber for the award as were former winners of the Sａkharｏv prize which celebrated 20 years this year.
“Repression has failed to silence the voices of courage”
Opening the award ceremony Mr Pöttering said today "is a day when we recall the fundamental principles of our Union as a force for peace, progress and hｕmａn rｉghts. As Dr Andrei Sａkharｏv said "it is impossible to achieve any one of these goals if one of the other two is ignored."
"In 1988, one of our first prize winners, Nelson Mandela, was in jail. In 1988, there was also an empty chair for Andrei Sａkharｏv; here today, there is an empty chair for Hｕ
ｊiａ," he added. The "2008 Sａkharｏv Prize winner Hｕ
ｊiａ was nominated as the representative of the silenced voices of China and Tibet, but today we will hear that voice" he said.
Zｅng Jｉｎyａn: the voice of Hｕ
ｊiａ
MEPs then heard a recorded speech by Zｅng Jｉｎyａn, herself a cyber-dissident and currently under house arrest.
Zｅng Jｉｎyａn made the following comments from her husband, "Perhaps the European Parliament was thinking of the work I did in the areas of AIDS and the environment, because what I did in terms of hｕmａn rｉghts was very far from sufficient and I will need to redouble my efforts."
She said Hｕ
ｊiａ is far from being the only prisoner of conscience in China. "Sometimes the price to be paid is very, very high." Not only activists but also their relatives have been "harassed by the police, lost their jobs or have been put under house arrest. And more serious still, some have even been tried and convicted," she said.
She also said that Hｕ
ｊiａ had "hoped he would be the last political prisoner".
Prize money to fund support network for persecuted activists and their families
Hｕ
ｊiａ had "often said he would like to set up a support network to help the families of hｕmａn rｉghts activists. To provide moral support for the families, to ease their mental and life pressure to which they are subjected," she said. Consequently, "I would like to use the €50,000 Sａkharｏv Prize as start-up money, to establish a foundation to support the families of hｕmａn rｉghts activists."
Hｕ
ｊiａ’s path: from AIDS and environment to hｕmａn rｉghts
Until 2004, Hｕ
ｊiａ devoted most of his activities to the problems of AIDS and the environment," she said. "From 2004, the police regularly denied him his freedom of movement and he had no other choice but to participate in hｕmａn rｉghts movements from his home, writing articles and publishing reports."
"During all these years, the most important and most interesting thing he did was to have constantly persisted in speaking the truth. He never stopped writing about the phenomena he observed. He never stopped describing, one by one, all the realities that the Chinese media cannot say," she said.
Optimism for a more democratic China
Hｕ
ｊiａ has always remained optimistic, said his wife. "He said he thought China was experiencing the most open period of its history...whether the government wants it or not…China is moving at great speed towards an open and democratic society," she said. "We are full of hope of soon being able to hail the arrival of an open China. We are full of energy for China to become a country at peace."
At the end of the video message former winners and MEPs gave the message a standing ovation.
Hｕmａn rｉghts not a threat to any nation
Elena Bonner, Andrei Sａkharｏv’s widow and herself a renowned hｕmａn rｉghts and democracy campaigner, praised Zｅng Jｉｎyａn asked the House "if everyone present had done enough to protect the Hｕ
ｊiａ, his wife and their child they want to do business with".
Ms Bonner was in trenchant mood. She reaffirmed her husband's belief that "people should always follow their consciences". She went on to say that "hｕmａn rｉghts the basis of civilisation".
On the position of Zｅng Jｉｎyａn she asked the Chamber "if everyone present had done enough to protect the Hｕ
ｊiａ, his wife and their child from state they want to have relations with".
She also questioned whether the position of the EP and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on hｕmａn rｉghts is always based on principle.
Ms Bonner also unveiled a list of 97 titles and awards received by Andrei Sａkharｏv so people could know him better.
President Hans-Gert Pöttering had earlier added that "we speak out on hｕmａn rｉghts as a friend of the Chinese people and we know how much we can do together for peace and progress".
The ceremony ended with a one minutes of applause for Hｕ
ｊiａ | 
发表于 2008-11-28 23:38:42
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