Ukrainian Nobel Prize Winner Says Putin Must Face War Crimes Tribunal

The trio of recipients of this year's Nobel Peace Prize have added weight to calls for Russian President Vladimir Putin to face a war crimes tribunal for his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The awards were given on Saturday at Oslo City Hall in Norway to representatives for the Kyiv-based Center for Civil Liberties, the banned Russian human rights group Memorial and the jailed Belarusian founder of the Viasna rights group.

"Sooner or later Putin will appear before a public court," Oleksandra Matviychuk, Center for Civil Liberties director, said at a press conference ahead of the ceremony on Friday.

When she received her award on Saturday, she said that "we have to prove that the rule of law does work, and justice does exist, even if they are delayed."

Her center has chronicled alleged atrocities by Russia and was given the award, along with Memorial chairman Yan Rachinsky and Belarusian activist Ales Byalyatski.

Rachinsky said on Friday that a war crimes hearing would be "important for the whole society—for society to understand that crimes will be punished." Memorial has been labeled an "undesirable" organization in Russia.

In addition, he had told the BBC that Russian authorities had instructed him not to accept the prize because the two other co-laureates were deemed "inappropriate".

On Saturday, Rachinsky condemned "the insane and criminal war of aggression against Ukraine," adding that "one of the first victims of this madness was the historical memory of Russia itself."

Natalia Pinchuk accepted the prize on behalf of her husband, Byalyatski, who along with three of his Viasna colleagues, are facing trials that critics say are politically motivated

Speaking for her husband, she said that "the entirety of Belarus is in a prison," referring to the brutal crackdown on the opposition after protests against a fraud-tainted vote that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko used to extend his rule in 2020.

Pinchuk added that Putin was using Lukashenko as a tool to establish his domination across former Soviet countries and that she knew what kind of Ukraine "would suit Russia and Putin—a dependent dictatorship."

Last month, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack accused Russia of "systemic" war crimes, which had been outlined by evidence collected by nongovernmental organizations, the media and investigators.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan said this week, according to Reuters, that the ICC, which investigates war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, is the right place to prosecute the crime of "aggression."

Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment.