The Russian editor of the independent investigative newspaper Novaya GazetaDmitry Muratov, auctioned his Nobel Peace Prize medal for $ 103.5 million on Monday, to benefit children displaced by the conflict in Ukraine.
Mr Muratov had won the prestigious award in 2021, alongside Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, with the committee honoring them for their efforts to preserve freedom of expression. He dedicated it to his diary Novaia gazeta and its collaborators died defending people’s right to free speech.
The sale, which took place in New York, was very animated, punctuated by many applauses and stimulated by the bidders who encouraged each other to drive the sale upwards. Mr. Muratov recorded videos of the auction screen and the atmosphere in the room.
The amount of the sale, picked up by telephone by a bidder whose identity has not been revealed, will be donated to the program of theUNICEF dedicated to Ukrainian children displaced by war, according to Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale.
When the final offer fell, increased by tens of millions of dollars over the previous one, the room was taken aback, including Mr. Muratov himself.
His choice ofUNICEF as a recipient of the funds was motivated by a concern that the organization chosen does not belong to any government and may work above of the borders.
Dissident journalist
Dmitry Muratov is one of the founders of the newspaper Novaya Gazeta in 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union and has edited it almost continuously ever since.
Known in particular for its investigations into corruption and human rights abuses in Chechnya, the tri-weekly became the latest major newspaper this year to criticize President Vladimir Putin and his tactics inside and outside the country.
Novaya Gazeta announced at the end of March that it was suspending its publications online and in paper format in Russia until the end of the intervention in Ukraine, in full hardening of the Kremlin against dissonant voices.
There is no other solution. For us, and I know for you, this is a terrible and painful decision. But we have to protect each otherhad then written Mr. Muratov in a letter addressed to the readers of the newspaper.
According to him, his writing had continued its work for 34 days under conditions of military censorshipsince the launch of the Russian offensive.
The newspaper has already paid a high price for its commitment: six of its journalists or contributors have been killed since the 1990s, including the famous journalist Anna Politkovskaïa, known for her criticisms of the Kremlin’s bloody war in Chechnya and assassinated on October 7 2006.
The sponsors of this crime have never been identified.
Shaken by this murder, Mr. Muratov had considered closing the newspaper, which seemed to him dangerous to people’s liveshe confided in March 2021 to theAFPbut had decided to continue in the face of the determination of its editorial staff.
On Monday, he praised the perseverance of journalists, who constitute an important obstacle for governments and a means of preventing war.
No matter how many times each of us wants to give notice and resign, we must stay in our jobs.he told theAFP.
In a video published by Heritage Auctions, the journalist states that winning the Nobel Prize gives you an opportunity to be heard.
The most important message today is that people understand that a conflict is happening and that we must help the people who are suffering the mosthe added, referring in particular to children in refugee families.
France Media Agency
Source: Radio-Canada
