Anna Politkovskaya Award granted in Moscow

Galina Arapova, the head of the Media Rights Defence Centre, has become a laureate of the Anna Politkovskaya "Kamerton" (Tuning Fork) National Award.

On September 8, on the International Day of Journalists' Solidarity, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Russian Union of Journalists organizes the fifth charity concert "In Memory of Victims", the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The ceremony for awarding of the winner of the Anna Politkovskaya "Kamerton" National Award was held as a part of the charity concert. Galina Arapova, the head of the Media Rights Centre, has become the winner this year.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Anna Politkovskaya, well-known for her articles about Northern Caucasus and, in particular, Chechnya, was murdered in Moscow on October 7, 2006. The Moscow City Court sentenced to various terms of imprisonment five defendants in the case, including Chechen natives Lom-Ali Gaitukaev, Rustam, Ibragim, and Djabrail Makhmudov, and ex-militiaman Sergey Khadjikurbanov. The Russian Supreme Court has considered the defence's appeal against the verdict and recognized the decision of the court of first instance as legitimate. Only the sentence of Djabrail Makhmudov was shortened from 14 years to 13 years and 8 months of imprisonment.

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