On the 70th birthday of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Nobel prize committee recognised the work of three winners who are all battling against Putin or pro-Putin regimes.
The peace prize went to imprisoned Belarus activist Ales Bialiatski, Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine. These winners have been recognised by the committee as exemplars of “human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence”.
It is notable that the committee awarded prizes to an activist jailed by Putin’s key ally, a Russian human rights group that Putin has tried to close down and a Ukrainian human rights group that is documenting Russian war crimes.
