Chechnya: Lidia Yusupova Nominated for Peace Prize
Peace and human rights activist expected to be winner of this year's nobel peace prize. Below is an article published by Aftenposten:
The Peace Prize winner, chosen by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, will be announced on Friday October 10 [2008], at 11am Oslo time. The committee has received 197 nominations and many think this year's prize will go to a candidate more directly associated with peace and human rights work than winners in recent years.
Stein Tønneson of the Oslo-based peace research organization PRIO told Reuters that he thinks a critic of the Chinese government is the most likely winner. His personal favourite is Chinese activist Hu Jia, who has fought actively for democracy and the environment in China and also leads the battle there against HIV/AIDS.
Tønneson said Hu Jia has been the most well-known critic of Chinese authorities. He thinks the Norwegian Nobel Committee may seek to keep human rights pressure on China after hosting the Summer Olympics. The committee last awarded the Peace Prize to a Chinese critic in 1991, when Tibet's spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, won.
Other long-mentioned candidates include Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Do, who has been in and out of prison for years because of his non-violent struggle for religious freedom and human rights, and the Russian human rights activist Lidia Yusupova, who has championed the rights of victims of the war in Chechnya.
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Both Thich Quang Do and Lidia Yusupova have earlier won the Rafto Prize, which also is awarded in Norway.
This year's Nobel Peace Prize carries with it a cash prize of USD 1.5 million. It will be formally presented, as always, in Oslo on December 10 [2008], which is the anniversary of the death of prize founder and Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. While the other Nobel prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Nobel wanted a committed named by the Norwegian parliament to award the Peace Prize.
