Irina Khalip Received Henri Nannen award :: Charter'97 :: News

Irina Khalip, deputy editor of the Minsk-based private newspaper Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta, has been conferred a Henri Nannen award by Germany’s Stern magazine and Gruner + Jahr publisher, said the press office of the German embassy in Minsk.

The award is in recognition of Ms. Khalip’s “courageous advocacy of freedom of the press and the establishment of democracy. For keen criticism in her articles many times Irina Khalip had been called to the prosecutor’s office for providing explanations. Criminal proceedings had been initiated for her articles. The journalist had been detained and beaten up by policemen during the opposition rallies.

The award presentation ceremony will take place in Hamburg on May 20 with Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in attendance.

“The work of the press in other countries is followed by Germany. Newpspaers and some journalists from Belarus were awarded prestigious German prizes for journalism many times. No matter how often we are reminiscent of the past these days, our regards are turned on the future. In this the close ties of the civil societies of Germany and Belarus are manifested visibly,” reads German Embassy’s special statement.

Note: Stern and Gruner + Jahr established the award in 1994 for print journalists to promote and preserve the quality of journalism and to keep alive the memory of Stern founder Henri Nannen who died in 1996. The journalists are awarded in the following nominations: reportage, journalist’s investigation, humorous reporting and photography. Besides, the contribution to journalism and freedom of press in Germany and abroad are awarded.