Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner for his fight against racism in South Africa, dies

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, icon of the battle against racism in South Africa, has died at the age of 90, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa reported on Sunday.

Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his battle against apartheid in South Africa.

The declaration of his death was made by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who described his passing as "another episode of national mourning during the farewell to a generation that handed us a liberated South Africa," in an official statement revealed by News24.

Tutu had recently been hospitalized for an infection, Europa Press reports.

The former archbishop of the Cape Town diocese resigned from public life in 2010, despite having been denouncing corruption in the South African political elite.

Desmond was criticized for much of his life for standing up to the church itself in favor of gay rights, and for declaring that former President George Bush should be tried by the international criminal court for crimes against humanity for the war in Iraq.

Tutu was always characterized by his rudeness in his statements but also by his charisma, humility and above all his good humor.