"Caucasian Knot" awarded with Geuzenpenning Medal

The "Caucasian Knot" has won a prestigious award – the Geuzenpenning Medal. The presentation ceremony of the Medal, awarded to the edition for its human rights activities, was held on March 13 in the Netherlands.

The ceremony took place in the city of Vlaardingen. The Medal was given in the temple, which was full – 650 persons attended the event.

Prior to the ceremony, its participants visited the graves of Geuzen (the Beggars) in the cemetery of Vlaardingen; after that, the traffic in the city centre was blocked, and the procession of several hundred people marched through the city to the temple. Volunteers were holding portraits of previous award winners.

Vaclav Havel, ex-Czech President, Ingrid Betancourt, the Colombian politician, and the international human rights organization "Human Rights Watch" are among previous winners of the award. The Geuzenpenning Medal is awarded annually since 1987.

The Geuzen Resistance 1940-1945 Foundation (the Netherlands) has awarded Grigory Shvedov, the editor-in-chief of the "Caucasian Knot", with the Geuzenpenning Medal for human rights activities in Russia and former Soviet republics.

"The 'Caucasian Knot' is not struggling for independence of lands, as the Geuzen did; however, it is struggling for freedom. For the freedom of speech and the freedom of press for the freedom of particular people," said Grigory Shvedov at the awarding ceremony.

"The 'Caucasian Knot' enjoys international respect by providing properly balanced and honest information. In many respects, it is Grigory Shvedov's personal merit," the "Agency for Social Information" quotes Lyudmila Alekseeva, Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group, as commenting on the award of the "Caucasian Knot" with the Geuzenpenning-2012.

Let us remind you that in 2007 the "Caucasian Knot" became a laureate of the journalistic award of the "Free Press of Eastern Europe," named after Gerd Bucerius and awarded by the German Foundation "Zeit-Stiftung" and the Norwegian Foundation "Free Speech".

In 2009, the "Caucasian Knot" won the award "For protecting interests of professional community", awarded by the Russian Union of Journalists.

The Internet mass medium "Caucasian Knot" was founded by the International Society "Memorial" in 2001. During 11 years of its work, the "Caucasian Knot" published more than 190,000 items of information, analytical and reference materials.

The "Caucasian Knot" is also in demand at homeland. According to the study of the "Medialogy", under the outcomes of February 2012, the edition occupies the ninth place in top thirty most cited Russian Internet resources (ahead of the websites of "Kommersant" and "Vedomosti" and the Radio Station "Echo Moskvy") in the ranking of more than 8000 media. At the end of 2011, the edition occupied the seventh place in the ranking of "Top-10 most frequently cited Internet resources in the printed media", having shown the progress the ranking by 13 positions within the year.