On December 1, 16 Nobel Peace Prize laureates addressed the leaders of the United States, Russia, Ukraine, and European countries, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and the release of prisoners held in both Russian and Ukrainian prisons.
This is reported by the German media outlet Deutsche Welle, which has reviewed this letter.
"We ask you to include in the draft peace agreement a clause on pardoning or exchanging civilians recognized by international organizations as political prisoners. This should primarily concern the sick, the elderly, women, and adolescents," the scientists wrote.
The letter states that there are over a thousand people in Russian prisons convicted under anti-war legislation.
The Nobel laureates called on leaders of states and governments to “demonstrate goodwill and mutually pardon at least a few dozen prisoners who are being held solely for expressing their personal opinions and have not committed violent crimes.” The letter does not specify who they are referring to.
Among the signatories of the letter are:
- Ukrainian human rights activist and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviychuk;
- Russian Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov;
- Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich;
- Russian human rights activist Yan Rachinsky, who accepted the peace prize on behalf of the Russian organization Memorial;
- Filipino-American journalist Maria Ressa.
The letter concludes by stating that its authors are convinced that "human rights should be at the center of politics, and the most important of them are the right to life, the right to dignity, the right to freedom".
Peace plan
The first version of the peace plan proposed by the United States consisted of 28 points. In particular, it called for the exchange of all prisoners and bodies of the dead on an "all for all" basis and the return of all civilian hostages and prisoners, including children.
Ukraine, the United States, and European partners began a series of talks in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 23. After that, the American plan was reduced from 28 points to 19, taking into account Ukraineʼs position.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the document retained the points on the need to release civilians and prisoners of war according to the formula "all for all" and to return Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.
Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsia, who was part of the delegation at the negotiations, said that the clause on amnesty for potential war criminals was reworked to take into account "the complaints of those who suffered in the war".
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.