Nobel Peace Prize winner to be announced today

Ales Byalyatksi, Belarusian human rights defender is one of the nominees.

The Nobel Committee in Oslo headed by Secretary-General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland (Norwegian ex-PM) will choose the laureate. Five members of the committee are selected by the Norwegian Parliament and usually represent the whole political spectrum.

231 people are nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year - 188 people and 23 organizations. Besides Byalyatski, American political scientist Gene Sharp, Russian human rights defender Svetlana Gannushkina and human rights activist from Afghanistan Sima Samar are among the nominees.

By the way, the prize has been reduced this year - 931 thousand euro instead of 1.2 million euro. It is explained by the economic crisis.