Rights Advocates from Ex-Soviet States Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

By Staff, Agencies

A Belarusian human rights advocate and two civil groups from Russia and Ukraine have been awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday.

The laureates “have for many years promoted the right to criticize power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens,” and have “made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power,” it said in a statement.

The prize went to veteran Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski, the Memorial Group, which was shut down last year, and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties.

Last year, the award was given to Filipino-American investigative author Maria Ressa and Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov. The latter has headed a leading Russian opposition newspaper since the early 1990s.