Sakharov Prize Committee Relocates Entire Ceremony to The Hague and Serves Subpoenas With the Canapés

The European Parliament has awarded its 2026 Sakharov Prize to the International Criminal Court and immediately relocated the entire ceremony, the buffet and the seating plan to the ICC's front lawn in The Hague, where ushers now greet each arriving dignitary with a medal in one hand and a summons in the other.

Organizers said the move was necessary because the prize is traditionally presented in Strasbourg, but the court's work is conducted in a building with a dock, and the committee wished to honor the laureate in its natural habitat. A temporary grandstand was erected facing the detention wing, and the guest list was expanded to include every head of state currently under preliminary examination, each assigned a numbered seat and a name card that doubles as a docket number.

«We felt it would be rude to hand the court a statuette and then ask it to keep working from a different postcode,» said a Parliament protocol official, adjusting a ribbon on a lectern bolted to the courthouse steps. «So the ceremony, the reception and the press conference are all being held within the court's jurisdiction. Guests who accept the canapé accept the jurisdiction.»

By mid-afternoon the lawn had filled with diplomatic cars queuing for a receiving line that ran past the evidence lockers and ended at a table where the prize certificate was stamped, sealed and, for visiting delegations, served alongside a courtesy translation of the Rome Statute in a commemorative slipcase.

The court's president accepted the award and thanked the Parliament for the honor, then returned to the bench, where the afternoon's calendar had been extended by the arrival of several laureates' escorts who had mistaken the buffet for a hearing and sat down in the public gallery with their plates.

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