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POLITICS

Wife of jailed Belarusian Nobel winner to accept his award in Oslo

The wife of jailed Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski, one of this year's Nobel Peace Prize winners, will accept the award on his behalf at the upcoming ceremony, organisers said Friday.

Nobel Peace Prize
Photo by Alexander Mahmoud / Nobel Peace Prize / Press

Bialiatski, 60, won the prestigious prize in October together with Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, which is documenting “Russian war crimes” against the Ukrainian people.

The prize will be presented to the trio at a formal ceremony in Oslo on December 10th.

Bialiatski was jailed after large-scale demonstrations against the regime in 2020, when Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in elections the international community deemed fraudulent.

His wife, Natalia Pinchuk, will represent him in Norway.

“We are very happy that she has gotten out of Belarus and everything is arranged for her to be able to participate in the (Nobel) ceremony at Oslo City Hall on December 10”, the head of the Nobel Institute, Olav Njolstad, told AFP in an email.

Memorial will be represented by its chairman Yan Rachinsky and the CCL by its director Oleskandra Matviychuk, the institute said.

A highly symbolic choice for this year’s prize, the trio represent the three nations at the centre of the war in Ukraine, which has plunged Europe into its worst security crisis since World War II.

The committee said it honoured the three for their struggle for “human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence in the neighbour countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine”.

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POLITICS

Norway’s PM says country is ready to recognise a Palestinian state

Norway is ready to recognise a Palestinian state together with other countries, its prime minister said on Friday while hosting Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez, who is seeking support for the cause.

Norway's PM says country is ready to recognise a Palestinian state

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told reporters that such a decision would need to be taken in close coordination with “like-minded countries”.

“Norway stands ready to recognise the state of Palestine,” Støre told a joint press conference with Sanchez.

“We have not set a firm timetable,” Støre added.

In November, Norway’s parliament adopted a government proposal for the country to be prepared to recognise an independent Palestinian state.

Norway also hosted Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at the beginning of the 1990s, which led to the Oslo Accords.

Sanchez is currently on a tour of Poland, Norway and Ireland this week to drum up support for the recognition of a Palestinian state, according to a Spanish government spokesperson.

Speaking alongside Støre, Sanchez said Spain was “committed to recognising Palestine as a state, as soon as possible, when the conditions are appropriate, and in a way that can have the most positive impact to the peace process.”

On March 22nd, Spain issued a statement with Ireland, Malta and Slovenia on the sidelines of an EU leaders summit, saying they were “ready to recognise Palestine” in a move that would happen when “the circumstances are right”.

Last week, Sanchez told reporters travelling with him on his Middle East tour that he hoped it would happen by the end of June.

Støre on Friday said that he welcomed Sanchez’s initiative to consult among countries to “strengthen coordination”.

“We will intensify that coordination in the weeks to come,” Støre said.

The Spanish leader has repeatedly angered Israel with his outspoken comments since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.

The war in the Gaza Strip erupted after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,634 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

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