What happened today in brief: 7 October

Human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial, and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties were awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. “The laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens,” the Nobel Committee said in a statement.

The Prosecutor's office of the Russian Penza region cancelled the decision to initiate the first criminal case on dodging mobilisation in Russia, head of the Agora human rights group Pavel Chikov reported. He added that the suspect had gained the right to rehabilitation, including compensation for the 48-hour-long detention. The Investigative Committee intends to appeal and insist on the criminal case being initiated.

Lieutenant General Rustam Muradov was appointed commander of the Eastern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces. According to head of Russia’s Dagestan Sergey Melikov, the military education and combat experience that Muradov had got in Chechnya and Syria would help him to “brilliantly handle the military tasks”.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that 11 people were killed following yesterday’s missile strikes on Ukraine’s city of Zaporizhzhia by the Russian military. Furthermore, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that a bus with civilians inside came under a missile attack in the Russia-occupied Kherson region of Ukraine. At least five people were killed in the attack and five were injured.

A second mobilised man died at the Military Command Academy in Russia’s Novosibirsk. His body was discovered on the territory of a personnel formation point. Meanwhile, no people have been mobilised in Russia’s Altai as of yet, a senator for the region Vladimir Poletayev declared in a post on his Telegram channel. “We are carrying out the plan we have received. There is a plan, but for a different [time] period,” the region’s military commissar Oleg Denisenko added.