PRESS RELEASE
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IPA meets Anna Politkovskaya’s newspaper in Moscow
Geneva, 11 September - For immediate release
On the occasion of the Moscow Book Fair, IPA Secretary General handed IPA’s 2007 Special Freedom Award to Vitalyi Yaroshevskiy, the Deputy Editor in Chief of Novaya Gazeta, Anna Politkovskaya’s newspaper.
Says Jens Bammel, IPA’s Secretary General: “This special IPA award to murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya has been announced on 15 June 2007 in Cape Town. The Moscow International Book Fair is a great opportunity to hand over the award to the newspaper that had the courage to give Ana Politkovskaya a platform”
“I imagine it must come as a surprise that this award came from an organisation which represents the book industry, and not the press or journalism. But the international publishing community felt that her assassins were not just targeting journalism and the free press. Book publishers thrive on freedom from fear, on open dialogue and diversity of opinion. Ana Politkovskaya's killers were attacking all those who understand that the truth, however hard, must be told. So let us stand together in facing these threats”.
Bjorn Smith-Simonsen, Chair of IPA’s Freedom to publish Committee adds: “Let us hope that the consequences of the criminal investigation will show that Russia is making a further step towards a free society”.
Notes for Editors:
Anna Politkovskaya was the special correspondent for the Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, who documented the horrific crimes committed in the war in Chechnya: torture, mass executions, kidnappings, and the sale by Russian troops of Chechen corpses to their families for burial. A collection of her writings, titled «The second Chechen War» in Russian, was published in English as «A small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya». Her last article, published posthumously as «We declare you a terrorist» charged Chechen police with using torture to extract confessions and manufacture good news from the war, and was accompanied by transcripts of videotaped torture sessions. She had received numerous prestigious awards. She was an outspoken critic of Vladimir
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International Publishers Association Press Release - 11 September 2007
Putin and of the Kremlin’s role in Chechnya. She was shot and killed in her apartment building in Moscow on 7 October 2006, the apparent victim of a contract killing. After three days of silence in the face of an international outcry, Putin characterised her role in Russian political life as «utterly insignificant». She was 48.
«I have to go because nobody else is going, and if nobody goes, then no one will know what is happening. Even when you write what is happening, people don’t believe you. But I figure if I have convinced 10 people of the truth, then I have done my job ».
«We are hurtling back into a Soviet abyss, into an information vacuum that spells death from our own ignorance. All we have left is the internet, where information is still freely available. For the rest, if you want to go on working as a journalist, it's total servility to Putin. Otherwise, it can be death, the bullet, poison, or trial - whatever our special services, Putin's guard dogs, see fit ».
Anna Politkovskaya (1958-2006)
More about IPA:
The International Publishers Association (IPA) is the global non-governmental organisation representing all aspects of book and journal publishing worldwide. Established in 1896, IPA's mission is to promote and protect publishing and to raise awareness for publishing as a force for cultural and political advancement worldwide. IPA is an industry association with a human rights mandate. IPA currently has 65 member associations in 53 countries.
For further information, please contact: Alexis Krikorian Director Freedom to Publish International Publishers Association 3, avenue de Miremont CH - 1206 Geneva Tel: +41 22 346 3018 Fax: +41 22 347 5717 [email protected] www.internationalpublishers.org
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