Russian journalist Dmitri Muratov sold the Nobel Peace Prize at auction for $103.5 million.
Muratov, editor-in-chief of the independent Novaya Gazeta, said that all of the proceeds from the sale of his gold medal will be used to help Ukrainian children who had to leave their homes due to the war.
Proceeds from the sale will go to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The auction, on World Refugee Day, 20 June, was held online, simultaneously with an event held in New York’s Times Square.
Auction company Heritage Auctions did not disclose who bought Muratov’s prize.
“It’s important for people to understand that there is a war in Russia and we must help those most affected by it,” Muratov said in a video released by the auction company.
Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, along with Filipino journalist Maria Ressa.
The Nobel Committee announced that Muratov was deemed worthy of this award for defending freedom of expression.
Standing out with its news about corruption, election fraud and unlawful arrests, Novaya Gazeta suspended its activities in March, right after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
ATTACKED WITH ACETONE PAINT
The decision to suspend the newspaper’s activities was taken after the Kremlin announced that media outlets describing Russia’s military actions in Ukraine as “war” could be shut down or fined.
The Kremlin uses the phrase “special military operation” for the war in Ukraine.
In April, acetone red paint was splashed on Muratov’s face on a train in Moscow.
“Muratov, this is for our children,” the male attacker shouted.
Muratov, after the collapse of the Soviet Union; He is one of the founders of Novaya Gazeta, which started broadcasting in 1993.
Since 2000, six reporters of the newspaper or six people who wrote for Novaya Gazeta have been killed. Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed in 2006, also worked for this newspaper.