Nov 04, 2024
Dresden Fellow Gubad Ibadoghlu among the finalists for the Sahkharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2024
The European Parliament has awarded the 2024 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Venezuelan opposition activists María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia. Among the finalists was Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu, a world-renowned economist who studies corruption, the diversion of natural resource profits and the detrimental economic consequences of autocratic rule.
As a Dresden Fellow and scholarship holder of the Philipp Schwartz Foundation, Gubad Ibadoghlu wanted to come to TU Dresden in 2023 to conduct research at the Chair of Economics, in particular Finance, together with Prof. Dr. Marcel Thum. Since July 24, 2023, however, he has been imprisoned in Azerbaijan for alleged possession of counterfeit money. He was released to house arrest on 22.04.2024. TU Dresden, together with politicians, human rights organizations and the family of Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu, continues to campaign for his release.
The Sakharov Prize is the highest award given by the European Parliament since 1988 to people or organizations committed to defending human rights and freedom of expression.