The Russian editor of the independent investigative newspaper Novaïa Gazeta Dmitry Muratov sold his Nobel Peace Prize medal at auction on Monday, June 21, raising 103.5 million dollars (about 98 million euros) for the benefit of children displaced by the conflict in Ukraine.
Dmitry Muratov had won the prestigious prize in 2021, alongside Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, the committee honoring them “for their efforts to preserve freedom of expression”. He dedicated it to his diary Novaïa Gazeta and its collaborators “died defending people’s right to free speech”.
Proceeds will be donated to Unicef
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. The journalist recorded videos of the auction screen and the atmosphere in the room.
The proceeds from the sale, won over the phone by an unnamed bidder, will be donated to Unicef’s program for Ukrainian children displaced by war, according to Heritage Auctions, which is in charge of the sale. When the final bid fell, increased by tens of millions of dollars over the previous one, the room was taken aback, including the owner of the medal.
Its choice of Unicef as the recipient of the funds was motivated by concern “essential for us that this organization does not belong to any government”but may “work above”sans “borders”.
Investigations of corruption and human rights abuses
Dmitry Muratov is one of the founders of the newspaper Novaïa Gazeta, created in 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union. He has edited it almost continuously ever since. Known in particular for its investigations into corruption and human rights violations in Chechnya, the tri-weekly became this year the last major newspaper to criticize President Vladimir Putin and his tactics inside and outside the country.
Novaïa Gazeta announced at the end of March that it was suspending its online and print publications 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 other.”had then written its editor in a letter addressed to the readers of the newspaper.
Six journalists killed since the 1990s
According to him, his editorial staff had continued its work for thirty-four days “under conditions of military censorship”, since 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.
Shaken by this murder, Dmitry Muratov had for a time considered closing the newspaper, which seemed to him “dangerous to people’s lives”he confided in March 2021 to AFP, but had decided to continue in the face of the determination of his editorial staff.
“Be Heard”
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 AFP.
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 most”he added, referring in particular to “children in refugee families”.