The editor-in-chief of Russia’s Novaya Gazeta newspaper Dmitry Muratov, who received the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize along with Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, called for the creation of an international tribunal on torture, as he himself said in a lecture delivered at the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo, IPN reports.

“We are increasingly hearing about incidents of torture involving inmates and detainees. Torture is used to break people and punish them beyond their sentence. This is savagery. I’m coming up with an initiative to establish an international tribunal on torture that would gather information on the use of torture in various parts of the world,” stated Muratov.

He also said that he would donate his cash award to help sick people and support independent journalism. This year, the Nobel Peace Prize comes with a cash award of US$$1.1 million.

At Muratov’s requests, the guests of the ceremony observed a minute of silence in memory of journalists who died in the line of duty.

Muratov and Maria Ressa of the Philippine news website Rappler won the award “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said when announcing the prize.

The proposal is a sensitive subject in Moldova too, given the multiple reports on the state of detainees in jails in Moldova and on the human rights violations in the breakaway republic of Transnistria, which include kidnappings.