A Russian human rights activist has told the BBC that he has been ordered by Russian authorities to refuse the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yan Rachinsky of Memorial, one of three co-winners this year, along with the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties, and Ales Bialiatski, who is in prison in Belarus.
Mr Rachinsky chose to accept the award and told Stephen Sackur of the BBC’s HARDtalk: “In today’s Russia, nobody’s personal safety is guaranteed”.
For more than 30 years, Memorial has worked to uncover the fate of victims of Soviet political repression. It also exposes the human rights abuses in Russia today, before it was forced to shut down.
