Four residents of regions of Southern Russia nominated for Boris Nemtsov Prize

The list of 45 nominees has included Elena Grebenyuk, a journalist from Astrakhan, a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot", Tuapse ecologist Evgeny Vitishko, Krasnodar activist Darya Polyudova, and Polina Zherbetsova, a writer, a political refugee from Chechnya. Dissident Sergey Kovalyov and human rights defender Igor Kalyapin, who protect the rights of residents of Northern Caucasus, are also nominated for the Boris Nemtsov Prize. The list of nominees has also included Boris Stomakhin, a sentenced publicist.

This year, the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, created by Zhanna Nemtsova, a daughter of the assassinated oppositionist, plans to award for the first time one person for "exceptional courage in the fight for democratic values and human rights and for free Russia." The Boris Nemtsov Prize is to be awarded on June 12, the Day of Russia.

Today, the website of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" has launched an open online voting to determine the five finalists.

Elena Grebenyuk, a journalist from Astrakhan, a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot", is nominated for the Boris Nemtsov Prize with the formulation "for the protection of the rights of prisoners and disabled children."

Evgeny Vitishko, an ecologist from Tuapse, a member of the Board of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch), is nominated with the formulation "for the struggle for fair elections in the nomination for the post of Mayor of Tuapse".

Darya Polyudova, an activist from the Krasnodar Territory, is nominated with the formulation "for the active struggle against the regime, because of which she was imprisoned in the penal colony."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.