Nobel winners demand prisoner release in Russia-Ukraine peace deal
Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov stated that a crucial element is missing from the discussions about ending the war in Ukraine, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
He and 15 other past winners of Nobel prizes for peace, literature and the sciences today sent an open letter to Putin, Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the European Union, calling for a release or exchange of political prisoners to form part of the proposed deal.
“We are confident that if Messrs. Putin and Zelenskiy demonstrate goodwill and mutually pardon at least a few dozen prisoners who are imprisoned merely for expressing their personal opinions and who have not committed violent crimes, this will hasten the advent of a lasting and just peace,” they said in the letter.
It refers to more than 1,000 people held in Russian prisons for political crimes, and did not put a figure on the number jailed in Ukraine, who include people sentenced for treason or for collaborating with Moscow.
The signatories included peace laureates Jose Ramos-Horta, Jody Williams, Maria Ressa and Yan Rachinsky and literature winner Svetlana Alexievich.
“Look, they’re talking about money, deals, rare earth metals, borders, but have you ever heard anyone talk about people?” Muratov, a newspaper editor who continues to live and work in Russia despite being labelled a “foreign agent” by the authorities, told Reuters news agency in a video interview.
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