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The winners of the Peace Prize, Dmitry Muratov and Maria Ressa, came to Norway. They both landed in the VIP section of Oslo airport on Wednesday afternoon.
Muratov landed first and had to undergo coronavirus testing before he could move on. A large press corps with photographers and journalists awaited him.
Muratov said he was horrified to see the Nobel program of events completed.
"The last time my schedule was broken by minutes and seconds was during the first service," he said.
He also paid tribute to his co-winner, Maria Ressie.
- People from the journalistic community knew Ressa long before receiving the award. He said the decision of the Nobel Committee was fantastic.
Muratov brought with him a copy of the New Gazeta from the time of the announcement of the Peace Prize.
- Guess who's on the front page? It's a great portrait of Maria Ressa, he said.
The Nobel Ceremony will start on Wednesday at 16pm. The "Bench of Peace", designed by Snøhett, will be unveiled in front of the Nobel Peace Center. After unveiling, there are posts, among others Gro Harlem Brundtland.
Uncertainty around Ressa
Ressa runs the Rappler news service, and it has long been unclear whether or not she will come to Norway to collect the award.
She was also arrested several times, and in June 2020 she was found guilty of defamation of a businessman. This verdict is used by the Philippine authorities to prevent her from going abroad.
However, it was revealed on Friday that an appeals court had been opened for her in the Philippines.
- I spoke to the British lawyer Resa, who was convinced that she would receive a positive ruling in the last of the three courts, Olav Njølstad NTB secretary of the Nobel Committee said on Monday.
Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB
Can become a "foreign agent"
Muratov is the editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, the only important, independent and critical newspaper in Russia. He, too, is under great pressure in his home country.
A few days after the president's spokesman Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, congratulated the editor of the Peace Prize, the president himself announced that Muratov would not be protected.
Most of the independent journalists in Russia have been branded as foreign agents by the authorities. The editor of Novaya Gazeta has so far avoided landing on this list.
If that happens, he and the newspaper will be faced with ridiculous bureaucratic demands to revise their own finances, risk sources will stop talking to them and they will have to post an agent status warning on all social media posts - from journalism to animal photos.
Less formal ceremony
Due to the new infection control measures in Norway as a result of the omicron variant, the traditional press conference with the winners of the peace prize will be only digital. It will be held on Thursday. The actual awards ceremony will likely take place as scheduled on Friday.
The Nobel Institute is in constant contact with the health authorities in Oslo.
This year's celebrations, however, are a big step forward compared to 2020, when all celebrations were canceled as a result of the pandemic. Thus, last year's peace prize will also be awarded this week.
Source: NTB
Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB
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