Human rights champions from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine have won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
The trio winning the prestigious awards comes as a highly symbolic choice as laureates have been drawn from three nations that are at the centre of the war in Ukraine.
The honour went to detained activist Ales Bialiatski of Belarus, Russia’s Memorial group and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties.
“They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy”, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, told reporters.
BREAKING NEWS:
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2022 #NobelPeacePrize to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties. #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/9YBdkJpDLU— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 7, 2022
The committee called on Belarus to release Bialiatski, 60, who has been jailed since 2021. Bialiatski’s wife said she was “overwelmed with emotion” after the news.
Last year, the Peace Prize crowned two champions of freedom of the press, Philippine journalist Maria Ressa and her Russian colleague Dmitry Muratov.
The prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma and a prize sum of 10 million Swedish kronor (about $900,000). Both Bialiatski and Memorial have been mentioned in Nobel speculation in previous years.
Earlier in the week, the prizes for medicine, physics and chemistry were announced. The 2022 Nobel season winds up Monday with the announcement of the winner of Nobel Economics Prize.
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