Dmitry Muratov, Nobel Peace Prize winner, listed as foreign agent

2023-09-02 11:53:01

On September 1, Russia added journalist Dmitry Muratov to its list of “foreign agents”. This status, close to that of “enemy of the people” under Stalin, is used to muzzle the opposition within the country. It imposes many administrative constraints on the persons concerned, including regular monitoring of their sources of funding. They are also obliged to accompany any publication, including on social networks, with the mention “foreign agent”.

Dmitry Muratov is the chief editor of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazetalaunched in 1993, of which six journalists or collaborators, including Anna Politkovskaya in 2006, have been murdered since the 2000s.

The Nobel medal for Ukrainian children

In 2021, Dmitry Muratov received the Nobel Peace Prize, together with Maria Ressa, a Filipino journalist, for their defense of press freedom and freedom of expression. In June 2022, he auctioned off his Nobel medal to raise funds for UNICEF’s program for Ukrainian children displaced by war.

To justify his inclusion on the list of “foreign agents”, the Ministry of Justice declared that Dmitry Muratov had “used foreign platforms to disseminate opinions aimed at forming a negative attitude towards the foreign and domestic policy of the Russian Federation”. He is also accused of disseminating information from other “foreign agents”.

Novaya Gazeta had temporarily suspended its publication in March 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, before seeing, in September 2022, its Internet and paper licenses revoked by the Russian justice. Part of the team, now based in Riga, Estonia, has since launched a new edition under the title Novaïa Gazeta Europe.

Hearing the news, the president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in charge of this prize did not mince words. “Dmitry Muratov received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for his efforts to promote freedom of expression and freedom of information, as well as independent journalism. It is sad that the Russian authorities are now trying to silence him”Berit Reiss-Andersen said in a statement.

“The charges against him are politically motivated”she added, assuring that the Norwegian Nobel Committee “keep supporting the important work” directed by Dmitry Muratov and his independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.