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Muratov has dedicated his Nobel prize to their memory.
New York: Due to the massive invasion of Russia over Ukraine, Dmitry Muratov, the Russian editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, auctioned off his Nobel Peace Prize gold medal for a whopping $103.5 million to benefit children displaced by the war in Ukraine.
According to the officials, the medal was sold to an as yet unidentified phone bidder at the sale in New York organized by Heritage Auctions.
While taking notes from Muratov's past, he won the prize in 2021 alongside journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines, with the committee honouring them "for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression."
He was among a group of journalists who founded Novaya Gazeta in 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Within this year, it became the only major newspaper left voicing criticism of President Vladimir Putin and his tactics inside and outside the country.
In March, more than a month into Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Novaya Gazeta suspended operations in Russia, after Moscow adopted legislation providing for tough jail terms against anyone criticizing the Kremlin's bloody military campaign.
Muratov's medal was available to bidders both in-person and online, with all proceeds going to UNICEF's Humanitarian Response for Ukrainian Children Displaced by War.
In April, Muratov was assaulted on a train when a person threw oil-based paint mixed with acetone on him, causing his eyes to burn.
Since 2000, six of Novaya Gazeta's journalists and collaborators have been killed in connection with their work, including investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya.
Muratov has dedicated his Nobel prize to their memory.
In an official report by AFP, the journalist said, "This newspaper is dangerous for people's lives." "We are not going anywhere."
Speaking in a video released by Heritage, the prominent journalist said that winning the Nobel "allows you to be heard."
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