BRUSSELS — An anti-slavery activist spoke out after politicians suspected of corruption allegedly conspired to block him from nomination for the European Union’s most prestigious human rights award.
Biram Dah Abeid, who campaigns against human rights abuses in Mauritania, was discussed as a potential candidate for the Sakharov Prize in 2020. Past winners include the people of Ukraine and Nelson Mandela.
But POLITICO has seen a document that claims Abeid was prevented from progressing through the nominations process as part of an alleged influence campaign conducted by former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri and his ex-aide Francesco Giorgi.
Both Giorgi and Panzeri have received preliminary charges in the so-called Qatargate cash-for-influence case, the biggest corruption scandal to hit the EU institutions in decades.
Leaked files from the police investigation, seen by POLITICO, suggest Abeid was excluded from the shortlist of candidates that the Socialists and Democrats group of MEPs were going to propose for the prize, after Panzeri and Giorgi intervened.
In a spreadsheet tab titled “Mauritania,” an entry dated September 9, 2020 mentions a “Birame” — an alternative spelling of Abeid’s name — in reference to the Sakharov Prize. That was the same date the S&D group announced its final shortlist of candidates, which did not include him.
“Birame is discarded from the three finalists of the S&D group,” the entry in the document reads.
People with knowledge of the process in 2020 confirmed that Giorgi himself and MEPs, including in the S&D group, were lobbied to get Abeid the Sakharov Prize that year.
‘Shocked’
Abeid, founder of the anti-slavery Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement, has often been targeted by the West African country’s government, and was even jailed in 2015 and 2018. He told POLITICO he was “shocked and crestfallen” to learn of the claims in the leaked files that he’d been blocked from contention for the prize.
“The image of the Sakharov Prize has taken a very hard hit,” Abeid told POLITICO. “Now we all know that the Sakharov Prize can be subjected to bargaining between powerful players who can influence how it is awarded.”
Abeid recalled meeting Panzeri several times between 2013 and 2019.
“He was extremely kind, extremely sensitive. He made me believe he was trying to convey all the humanitarian spirit of the European Union,” Abeid said. “Money can influence this prize. And especially corrupt money.”
In 2020, Giorgi was an assistant to MEP Andrea Cozzolino, who has also been charged in Qatargate and denies involvement.
Abeid had previously been shortlisted by the Socialist group in 2018. In 2020, the prize — which is largely decided by the three biggest political groups in the European Parliament — eventually went to Belarus’s democratic opposition. People familiar with the discussions in 2020 suggested Abeid was not a frontrunner that year.
“I knew I had a shot at the prize,” Abeid said. “I was in a very good position as part of a resistance and dissidence movement. I am very stunned, very shocked.”
Abeid said that Mauritanian authorities had prevented him from claiming what he thinks was his legitimate victory in the country’s presidential elections — in 2014 and 2019. He drew parallels with Giorgi and Panzeri. “[Mauritania’s] friends inside the European Union, like Panzeri, still prevent me from winning,” Abeid said. “Even though I represent the majority of people still suffering from slavery in Mauritania.” He is standing again for the presidency in 2024.
Panzeri told police he and Giorgi received €100,000 each from Mauritania between 2019 and 2022. That is disputed by Giorgi, who told investigators that he only received €1,800 a month from the Mauritanian ambassador in Brussels, formally as rental for a flat that he was subletting to other people.
Police documents show that Panzeri and Giorgi’s deal with Mauritania was clinched in late 2018 during a meeting with the country’s then-president, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. The president, Panzeri recalled, proposed that the duo worked to ensure the EU did not “speak ill” of Mauritania. That, Panzeri told investigators, “could be exchanged with money.”
An S&D spokesperson said: “We do not comment on the ongoing judicial investigation, other than to say that we are willing to fully cooperate with the judicial authorities. Our internal inquiry did not bring to light any facts or cases that should have been brought to the attention of the investigation.”
Lawyers for Giorgi and Panzeri and the government of Mauritania did not respond to requests for comment.
