Mrs. Fraucke Hamann, the chief of the media division at the “Free Press Of The Eastern Europe” Fund after Gerd Butserius stated during the awarding ceremony “We have got acquainted with the best journalists who have shown professionalism, objectivity and selflessness under conditions of obvious suppressing the freedom of speech”.     

The Fund by the Die Zeit newspaper is respected by most prominent politicians and by the international largest media. The interest to the Fund and to its awards is maintained due to outstanding personality of Gerd Butserius, the judge from Kiel, who did not give up to Nazism. This man risked his life many times standing for the basic human rights under conditions of Hitler’s regime. After the WWII Mr. Butserius organized weekly Die Zeit in Hamburg. German intellectuals still consider this newspaper to be an example of competence, objectivity and depth of analysis. Till his death in 1995 the former deputy of Bundestag did his best to make the profession of journalist to be independent, prestigious and well-paid at least in FRG.  

The laureates of this year are Moscow weekly New Times and “Moi Gorod Bez Zensury” (fittingly, My Town Without Censorship), Byelorussian internet portal “Ezhednevnik” (Datebook) and “Slonimskaya Gazeta”, also political observer Rauf Mirkadyrov from Baku and Elena Larionova, a journalist from Murmansk…   

And our special correspondent Viktoria Ivleva is also among those awarded. “Her international reportages, photos made all over the world, coverage of events in Chernobyl, Azerbaijan, Uganda or Rwanda, denote of brave and courageous informing” this way it was stressed by the Norwegian Union of Journalists and Norwegian PEN club in their nomination made for awarding.    

Congratulations to all the laureates!