Russian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate dedicates prize to murdered journalists

Editor of Novaya Gazeta wins Nobel Peace Prize

The editor-in-chief of Russia’s Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, said he was dedicating it to the newspaper’s murdered journalists.

“Igor Domnikov, Yuri Shchekochikhin, Anna Politkovskaya, Stas Markelov, Anastasia Baburova, Natasha Estemirova – these are the people who received the Nobel Peace Prize today”, Muratov said.

By the decision of the Nobel Committee, the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta became the winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, along with the Philippine journalist Maria Ressa. Both journalists received the award for “efforts to preserve freedom of thought as a precondition for democracy and peace”.

Muratov announced that he intends to transfer part of the Nobel Prize to the Circle of Kindness Foundation which helps children with serious and rare diseases.

Dmitry Muratov in 1993 became one of the co-founders of Novaya Gazeta (originally Novaya daily newspaper)

Muratov has been heading the publication for many years, under his leadership the newspaper covered the war in Chechnya, global and domestic corruption, persecution and human rights violations. Journalists of the publication became laureates of more than 60 professional awards, including the Pulitzer Prize

Six journalists of the newspaper were killed for their professional activities: Igor Domnikov (2000), Yuri Shchekochikhin (2003), Anna Politkovskaya (2006), Anastasia Baburova (2009), as well as lawyer Stanislav Markelov (2009) and human rights activist Natalya Estemirova (2009) who worked with the editorial board.

Muratov is the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate in Russia after the collapse of the USSR.