(BRUSSELS) - The Dalai Lama, Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Franco-Colombian ex-hostage Ingrid Betancourt figure among the candidates for the EU parliament's 2008 Sakharov prize, the assembly said Wednesday.

The three were nominated along with five others for the parliament's prestigious prize, which is awarded each year to defenders of human rights and democracy.

The other candidates are NGO European Roma Rights Centre, jailed Chinese pro-democracy campaigner Hu Jia, Belarussian political prisoner Alexandr Kozulin, Russian human rights activist Mikhail Trepashkin and Abbot Apollinaire Malu Malu, head the Democratic Republic of Congo's electoral commission.

The parliament's foreign affairs committee will narrow down the list to three names on September 22 before the winner is choosen in mid-October and the prize presented in a Strasbourg plenary session on December 16.

The 2008 Sakharov Prize, named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, marks the twentieth year it has been awarded and all previous winners will be invited to attend the presentation in December.

Among the previous winners are former South African leader Nelson Mandela, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ex-UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

Further information - European Parliament

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