Exiled Venezuelan opposition figurehead Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia on Thursday hailed Europe's "deep solidarity" with his country after the EU parliament awarded him the bloc's top rights prize.
The European Parliament bestowed the Sakharov prize on Urrutia and fellow Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for their fight for democracy under President Nicolas Maduro's hardline rule.
Urrutia claims to have won the July 28 presidential vote that handed Maduro another term but was marred by widespread allegations of rigging.
An "honoured and grateful" Urrutia wrote on X that the prize "embodies the deep solidarity of the peoples of Europe with the Venezuelan people and their struggle to recover democracy".
"The struggle has not finished. The regime persists in blocking political change, committing more and more human rights violations and crimes against humanity," Urrutia added in his statement.
"Democrats, within and outside Venezuela, must work together to have the Venezuelan people's sovereign mandate respected."
Urrutia fled to Spain in September amid deadly unrest and a crackdown by authorities that followed the disputed election results.
Machado, the opposition's original presidential candidate who was barred from running in the election, has remained in Venezuela to continue resisting Maduro.
imm/ju
X