Receiving their prestigious prize in Oslo on Saturday, the Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize winners called for not laying down arms in war.crazy and criminalthat Vladimir Putin started in Ukraine.
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Based on the three main protagonists of the conflict, Belarusian activist Ales Belyatsky, who was imprisoned in his country, the memorial of a Russian NGO dissolved by order of justice, and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) were crowned for their commitment to their cause. “human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistencein the face of authoritarian forces.
The Nobel prize didn’t stop their frenzy, though they showed no signs of hanging out at the awards ceremony. “The people of Ukraine want peace more than anyone else in the worldOleksandra Matviychuk, the head of the Center for Civil Liberties, announced this. “But it is not possible to get peace for the attacked country by laying down the arms. It will not be peace, but occupation“, – She said:
Founded in 2007, CCL, which he heads today, documents war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine: the destruction of apartment buildings, churches, schools and hospitals, the bombing of evacuation corridors, the forced displacement of the population, torture and crimes…
As a result of the bombing of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Oleksandra Matviychuk wrote her Nobel Prize acceptance speech herself by candlelight, she told AFP in an interview shortly before the ceremony.
During the nine months of the Russian invasion, the CCL counted “over 27,000 episodesabout war crimes, according to him, and that “only the tip of the iceberg“. “War turns people into numbers. We must name all victims of war crimes“, he pointed out.
Putin’s “imperial aspirations”.
Oleksandra Matviychuk Oleksandra Matviychuk again called for an international tribunal to judge.Putin, (his ally, Belarusian leader Alexander) Lukashenko and other war criminals“.
His Russian co-chairman, the president of the memorial complex, Jan Ratchinsky, in his turn, condemned “imperial ambitionslegacy from the USSR, which “still flourishing today“.
Vladimir Putin’s Russia has taken away the historical meaning of the anti-fascist struggle”.for their own political interests“, he said. From now on, “Confronting Russia is tantamount to fascism“, he lamented.
Denaturation that provides “The ideological justification of the insane and criminal war of aggression against UkraineHe said this despite Moscow’s ban on publicly criticizing the invasion.
Founded in 1989, the Memorial has worked for decades to shed light on the crimes committed under Stalin’s totalitarian regime and preserve the memory of its victims, and to gather information about the violation of freedoms and rights in Russia.
Amid opposition and media mauling, the NGO was dissolved in late 2021 by the Russian justice system, which also ordered the seizure of its offices in Moscow on October 7, the very evening of the Nobel Prize ceremony. Award to the organization. “Today, the number of political prisoners in Russia exceeds the total number in the entire Soviet Union at the beginning of the perestroika period of the 1980s.Ian Ratczynski noted.
“Dictatorships International”
The third Nobel laureate Ales Belyatsky, the father of the human rights NGO Viasna, has been imprisoned since July 2021.
He is awaiting trial, where he faces up to twelve years in prison.smugglingThe 60-year-old activist for opposing Lukashenko’s repressive regime was barred from the Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
The representative of the ceremony, his wife Natalya Pinchuk, had to be content with repeating a few of his words, in particular the words in which he calls to stand up “against”.the international of dictatorships“.
In Ukraine, Russia aims to create “a vassal dictatorship, the same as today’s Belarus, where the voice of the oppressed people is ignored, with Russian military bases, huge economic dependence, cultural and linguistic Russification;he said in a woman’s voice. “Goodness and truth must be able to defend themselves“, he also said.
In Stockholm, where the other Nobel Prizes (medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics) are awarded, no less than 26 laureates will participate in the celebrations this year, including the French author Annie Hernand.
Blame it on Covid-19, which prevented the 2020 and 2021 winners from traveling to the Swedish capital to collect their prize and check for 10 million kroner (around €900,000).
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.