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An NGO investigating war crimes, Ukraine's first Nobel Peace Prize winner

The decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee caused shock and joy among the members of the CCL, a reputable organization but little known to the general public.

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An NGO investigating war crimes, Ukraine's first Nobel Peace Prize winner

The decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee caused shock and joy among the members of the CCL, a reputable organization but little known to the general public.

"When we heard the news, we were stunned," Civil Liberties Center spokeswoman Anna Trouchova told media. "We see this award as recognition of our business."

Founded in 2007, the organization is led by human rights defender Olexandra Matviychuk, who learned the news while abroad en route to Ukraine, and on the eve of her 38th birthday.

"It is above all the reward for Olexandra", who "gathers around her incredible people and does immense work in the field of human rights", declared to AFP Alissa Malytska, member of the council of administration of the NGO.

Saying she was "delighted" to receive the prestigious award, Ms. Matviïtchouk immediately called on Facebook to try Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko "and other war criminals" before an international tribunal.

The Civil Liberties Center rose to prominence after Russia's 2014 annexation of the southern Crimean peninsula, followed by armed conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The NGO launched an international campaign demanding the release of Ukrainian prisoners who were victims of arbitrary detention by the Russians and the separatists.

The best known of them was the filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, director among others of the film Rhino, presented at the Venice festival (Italy) in 2021. Arrested in Crimea after protesting against its annexation, Mr. Senstov had spent five years in the Russian prisons, before finally being released in 2019, during a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia.

"It was she (Olexandra Matviïtchouk,) who launched the idea of ​​the international campaign

"Lessia (short for Olexandra) is very powerful and confident in what she does," he said.

- "More than 20,000 war crimes" -

"Her whole life is subject to her mission. When we were studying in the United States, she was busy in parallel, at night," with these human rights projects, he added.

The watchword posted on Ms. Matviïtchouk's Facebook page seems to support her words: "Pessimism is a luxury you cannot afford. When your strength leaves you, your character emerges".

After the start of the Russian invasion in February, the CCL began documenting war crimes attributed to Russian troops by kyiv.

Relying on the help of volunteers, the NGO has notably sent mobile groups to the scene of crimes, while working to facilitate the return to Ukraine of "tens of thousands" of Ukrainians forced to leave the war zone. to Russia.

"We have already recorded more than 20,000 crimes," Trouchova said.

The country's first Nobel Peace Prize has not made everyone happy in Ukraine, with some deeming the idea of ​​sharing the prize between Russian and Ukrainian activists misplaced at a time when Ukraine is invaded by the army from Moscow.

"Very bad idea (...) but very typical for the West", commented on Facebook Olga Roudenko, editor-in-chief of the English media Kyiv Independent. "We still have to work a lot so that we are seen as a separate phenomenon and not just part of the region with Russia and Belarus."

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