Nobel Peace Prize awarded to a Russian journalist: who he is and what he did

This year, two journalists received the Nobel Peace Prize: Chief Editor of the Russian Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, and Maria Ressa, founder of the Philippine edition of Rappler. The Committee noted “their efforts to protect freedom of expression and expression, which are fundamental to democracy and lasting peace”. The publication told about this in more detail. with the BBC.

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Dmitry Muratov

“Despite the murders of employees and threats, Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov did not abandon the newspaper’s independent policy. He consistently defended the rights of journalists,” said Berit Reis-Andersen, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. She recalled that the day before marked 15 years since the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

In 2001, Novaya Gazeta freelance correspondent Viktor Popkov was killed in Chechnya. In 2003, the editor of the investigation department, Yuri Shchekochikhin, died. The Investigative Committee did not see any crime in his death, but the journalist’s colleagues believe that he was poisoned—shortly before his death, he received threats.

In 2009, human rights activist Natalya Estemirova was kidnapped and killed in Chechnya; she collaborated with Novaya Gazeta. In January 2009, Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova and lawyer Stanislav Markelov, who handled some of the publication’s affairs, were shot dead in Moscow.

The head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee noted that Dmitry Muratov has to work in conditions of rapidly growing pressure on the media in his country.

“Igor Domnikov, Yuri Shchekochikhin, Anna Politkovskaya, Stas Markelov, Anastasia Baburova, Natasha Estemirova - these people received the Nobel Prize today,” Muratov said. - I didn’t expect this. I saw a call from Norway, but thought it was spam. This is what I can say: we will take the rap with this prize for Russian journalism, which they are now trying to repress. That's all. We will try to help people who are now recognized as agents, who are now being oppressed and expelled from the country.”

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Dmitry Muratov is one of the founders of Novaya Gazeta. He served as editor-in-chief of the publication from 1995 to 2017, and then took up this position again in 2019.

“We can congratulate Dmitry Muratov. He consistently works according to his ideals, he is committed to his ideals. He is talented, he is brave,” Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov commented on the award.

Muratov promised to donate part of his award to the Circle of Kindness fund to help sick children. This fund was created in early 2021 by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Funds are sent there from the increased tax of Russians, who earn more than 5 million rubles a year.

Muratov has been a member of the public council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) since 2011. During the elections to the State Duma, he wrote a column in which he defended electronic voting and criticized the Communist Party, for which Navalny's supporters were advised to vote.

Among the latest high-profile investigations of Novaya Gazeta is a series of materials about human rights violations in Chechnya. In 2017, the publication reported on large-scale persecution of gays in this Republic and the existence of “secret prisons” for gays, where they are subjected to torture.

The day before marked 15 years since the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who also wrote about Chechnya. She was shot on October 7, 2006, in the entrance of her house; those who ordered the murder were never identified.

In March 2021, Novaya Gazeta published an article on extrajudicial executions in Chechnya. On the same day, the publication reported a chemical attack on the editorial board. According to the newspaper, an unknown person sprayed a chemical substance at the entrance to the building. CCTV cameras showed that the substance was sprayed by a man in a courier's clothes, who drove up to the office on a bicycle.

In April 2017, a letter came to the editorial office of Novaya Gazeta, in which they found white powder. The envelope bore an Easter cake and painted eggs with the words "Happy Easter!" The addressee was the director general of Novaya Gazeta.

Maria Ress

“As a journalist and co-founder of Rappler, Maria Ressa has proven herself to be a fearless defender of free speech. Rappler has provided critical coverage of the Duterte regime's scandalous and bloody anti-drug campaign. Maria Ressa exercises the fundamental right of free speech to expose abuses of power, violence and growing authoritarianism in her home country, the Philippines,” Reis-Andersen explained of the committee’s second decision.

Rappler is a popular English-language news publication that Philippine authorities have been trying to force into self-destruction for many years. Formal legal action to shut down the publication is pending, but Rappler continues to operate.

In 2017, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that the publication was owned by Americans, who dictated his editorial policy.

After this statement, 11 criminal cases were opened against editor-in-chief Maria Ress and directly against Rappler. She was personally accused of tax evasion, defamation, violation of the law on foreign owners and dissemination of defamation on the Internet.

Since then, she has become a symbol of the struggle for press freedom in the Philippines. In 2018, Time magazine included Maria Ress in the group of journalists recognized as People of the Year.

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“A world without facts is like a world without truth and trust. There's never been a better time to be a journalist. When it becomes the most dangerous to do this, it means that it is at this moment that it is most important,” said Maria Ressa, commenting on her award of the Peace Prize.

WHO, Reporters Without Borders and Navalny

Initially, the World Health Organization (WHO) was considered the favorite of the race. Among the other most likely candidates were the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the leader of the Belarusian opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, eco-activist Greta Thunberg and the Reporters Without Borders organization.

A total of 329 candidates (234 people and 95 organizations) nominated for the Peace Prize. This is the third largest figure in the history of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Peace Prize is the only prize that is awarded not by the Swedish, but by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Who else from the Russians received the Peace Prize

In 1975, the co-author of the hydrogen bomb, an active fighter for human rights, Andrei Sakharov, became the laureate of this prize. The committee noted his “fearless support for the fundamental principles of peace among people and courageous struggle against abuse of power and any form of suppression of human dignity”.

And in 1990, the first and only president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, received the prize for his leading role in the peace process, which today is an important component of the life of the international community.

How candidates for the Peace Prize are selected

According to the rules of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, absolutely anyone can be nominated for a peace prize, but only a limited number of people are entitled to nominate candidates.

As the head of the Norwegian committee Berit Reis-Andersen explains, when nominating candidates, three criteria specified in Alfred Nobel's will are taken into account: contribution to the reduction of the number of armed forces, assistance to peace negotiations and contribution to strengthening fraternal relations between peoples.

According to Reis-Andersen, over the past 120 years, several clarifying formulations have been added to the concepts identified by Nobel, such as international cooperation, the contribution to peace not only of individuals, but also of organizations, and the protection of human rights.

“In some cases, when choosing a candidate, we combine all these criteria together, in others, we indicate one thing as the reason for our decision,” explained Berit Reis-Andersen.

There is no minimum age for Nobel Peace Prize laureates, but the head of the committee emphasizes that an individual's contribution to peace must be very significant, and this takes time, so the prize winners are usually mature people.

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The youngest laureate in history was Malala Yusufzai, an activist from Pakistan, who was 17 years old at the time of receiving the award. She became famous for her struggle for the right to education for girls from Muslim countries, for which she was persecuted by the Taliban.

Controversial prize

The Peace Prize has always been controversial. And although in all other nominations the committee's decision is also very subjective, but it is this prize that usually causes the most criticism.

One example is the award of this monetary reward to US President Barack Obama, who by that time had just taken office and had not managed to do anything for the good of the world.

But the main objection is that the Nobel Prize cannot be withdrawn. Once awarded, it remains forever associated with the name of a particular person.

Therefore, even if a politician receives a Peace Prize for peacekeeping activities, and then becomes involved in a conflict, he still remains a Nobel laureate. Which, in turn, creates hefty diplomatic problems.

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