17:51, 2 May 2016

Seimour Khazi and Elena Milashina awarded Gerd Bucerius Prize

Elena Milashina. Photo: http://www.oneworld.cz

Journalist Seimour Khazi, who is serving his prison sentence in Azerbaijan, has become one of the winners of the annual Gerd Bucerius Prize "Free Press of Eastern Europe 2016", awarded by the German "Zeit-Stiftung" Foundation and the Norwegian "Free Speech" Foundation. The number of winners also includes Elena Milashina, a correspondent of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" in Northern Caucasus.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Gerd Bucerius "Free Press of Eastern Europe" Prize is awarded to journalists and the media in Eastern Europe and the republics of the former Soviet Union standing for the right to independent coverage of events, for freedom of speech and the media, who have made a significant contribution to the democratic journalism.

According to the press release of the founders of the Gerd Bucerius Prize, in his activities, Seimour Khazi exposed the facts of corruption and abuse of power in his country, and as a result, he was subjected to threats and physical violence. In August 2014, he was arrested on the charge of disorderly conduct and sentenced to imprisonment.

Russian journalist Elena Milashina has become another winner of the Gerd Bucerius Prize. She was awarded for "contribution to raising the level of awareness of the various scare tactics" used by the authorities of Chechnya to silence critical voices. Elena Milashina was repeatedly threatened in connection with her professional activities.

In summer 2015, "Novaya Gazeta" asked Russian presidential administration and law enforcers to consider the publication of the article“The USA playing pawns”, published in "Grozny-inform" on May 19, as a life threat to its special correspondent Elena Milashina. An international human rights organization Human Rights Watch also demanded to investigate the incident. The article by the deputy director of the agency Mavsar Varaev contains an analysis of the recent history of Russia, the situation in the world political map and the murder of an opposition politician Boris Nemtsov. Chechen journalist pays much attention to the article about the wedding of Nazhud Guchigov, then the boss of the Nozhai-Yurt ROVD (District Interior Division) of Chechnya, and a 17-year-old girl Kheda (Louiza) Goylabieva, written by Milashina. Varaev is indignant at Milashina's activities and recalls the fate of Anna Politkovskaya, the murdered journalist of "Novaya Gazeta".

Each of the winners will be awarded with the money amounting to 15,000 Euros.

The award ceremony will be held in Tbilisi in November 2016.

The "Caucasian Knot" was awarded the Gerd Bucerius Prize in journalism in 2007.

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

Author: Faik Medzhid

Source: CK correspondent