The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Maria Ressa and Dmitri Muratov, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday.
As stated in the decision of the Nobel Committee, the prize was awarded "for efforts to protect freedom of expression, which is a prerequisite for democracy and lasting peace".
Muratov became the third Russian citizen to be awarded the Peace Prize - before that, human rights activist Andrei Sakharov and the first president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, received the prize.
In 2018, Maria Ressa was named "Person of the Year" by Time magazine. The journalist is known for her criticism of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte; she has been charged with "cyber libel".
In 2020, the UN World Food Program became the laureate of the award.
The Peace Prize, according to Alfred Nobel's will, is awarded "to the person who has achieved the greatest success or has done more than others in uniting peoples and reducing the number of active armies, as well as for holding peace congresses and drawing attention to them".
In accordance with the last will of the scientist, this prize, unlike other awards established in accordance with his will, is not awarded in Stockholm, but in Oslo.
Nobel wrote that the decision on the award should be made by a committee of five people appointed by the Norwegian parliament. Traditionally, members of the committee are mostly retired Norwegian politicians and former party leaders.