7 октября 2012 года

Six years ago on October 7, renowned journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot and killed in her apartment building. With her death, the Russian people lost a voice that courageously sought to report the truth. Today we remember Anna’s legacy both as a journalist and as a champion of human dignity. Justice will not be done until all involved in her murder have been identified and prosecuted.

We will continue to shine the spotlight on this case, and others, such as American Paul Klebnikov who was gunned down in Moscow eight years ago. Journalists across the globe who speak out against abuses and work to secure fundamental freedoms for their fellow citizens must be protected.

To read the Statment on the US Department of State website, click here . 

by Razan Zaitouneh, 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Award Winner

Published in The Sunday Times  (London) and the Novaya Gazeta  (Moscow)

Dear Anna,

I feel the irony of fate. Firstly, because I am writing to you again, Anna Politkovskaya, following a year, which passed like a century while we still run between dream and death. Secondly, because I have been commissioned to present the award in your name to another woman who left us while trying to convey the truth that cost her life.

Marie Colvin, the courageous reporter, never feared searching for truth in the face of death. Marie went to many countries wracked by wars and conflict to bear witness. She lost her eye while covering the civil war in Sri Lanka.

In Syria, Marie chose the capital of the revolution, Homs, to report, both in sound and through images, an aspect of the revolution that the regime turned into an all-out war against the Syrians. Marie was not wrong in her choice. At that time, Homs was the whole event, the focus of most journalists, the symbol of the revolution, and the symbol of survival despite voracious death.

Right up to the last, Marie Colvin was sending reports that show the ugly crimes committed against the city and its people. Within a few seconds, she became the headline and content of the news.

“Covering a war means going to places torn by chaos, destruction, and death, and trying to bear witness. It means trying to find the truth in a sandstorm of propaganda when armies, tribes or terrorists clash... 

Journalists covering combat shoulder great responsibilities and face difficult choices. Sometimes they pay the ultimate price... 

Is it worth the cost in lives, heartbreak, loss? Can we really make a difference? I faced that question when I was injured. In fact one paper ran a headline saying, has Marie Colvin gone too far this time? My answer then, and now, was that it is worth it.

Our mission is to speak the truth to power. We send home that first rough draft of history. We can and do make a difference in exposing the horrors of war and especially the atrocities that befall civilians…

The real difficulty is having enough faith in humanity to believe that enough people be they government, military or the man on the street, will care when your file reaches the printed page, the website or the TV screen…

We do have that faith because we believe we do make a difference.” – Marie Colvin,

Address given at a service for war wounded at St. Bride’s Church, London, 2010

This year’s winner is a unique woman, a courageous war correspondent, who dedicated her life to reporting from the frontline of almost every major conflict in recent history. From the war in the Balkans to the armed conflict in Chechnya to the wave of revolutions that ignited the Arab Spring – Marie Colvin was there, bearing witness and giving a voice to those caught up in the heart of the ‘sandstorm’. She did speak truth to power. She exposed the horrors of war and made a difference. 

We honour Marie Colvin for her courage, integrity and passion for truth. She lived a life of courage and truth-telling in the face of grave danger, just as Anna did, and paid for it with her life.

One of the most experienced and noted war correspondents of her generation Marie Colvin lost her life on 22 February 2012 while reporting from the besieged city of Homs, in Western Syria. She had defied the ban on foreign journalists imposed by the Syrian government and entered the country on the back of a motorcycle – ensuring the world would hear about the atrocities against civilians that continue there to this day; hoping that the world would care.

For more information about Marie Colvin as the 2012 Anna Politkovskaya Award winner, click here.

Download the leaflet for the 2012 Anna Politkovskaya Award here. 

Syrian writer Razan Zaitouneh was the winner of the 2011 RAW in WAR Anna Politkovskaya Award, an annual prize given to a woman human rights defender from a conflict zone in the world. Here she addresses the Russian journalist in whose name the prize is awarded - who was killed in Moscow in 2006 by unknown forces - about the winner of this year's award, Marie Colvin, the Sunday Times correspondent who was killed in Syria earlier this year.

Read the article in full at The Sunday Times.