Stanislav Dmitriyevsky and Oksana Chelysheva were announced as the winners of the human rights watchdog's Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat at its 15th annual U.K. Media Awards in London Tuesday.
Dmitriyevsky and Chelysheva, both editors at the Russia-Chechen Information Agency and leading members of the Russian Chechen Friendship Society, a human-rights organization that co-publishes the U.S.-funded newspaper Pravo-Zashchita ("Rights Protection"), say they have received death threats for their coverage of human rights violations in Chechnya.
However, the Kremlin responded Wednesday by criticizing foreign human rights organizations for supporting journalists who it says foment ethnic discord.
Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin's first deputy press secretary, said the actions of some journalists "in our opinion are nothing but propaganda for terrorism."
Dmitriyevsky was given a two-year suspended prison sentence in February this year on charges of instigating ethnic, national, and social hatred after publishing speeches by former Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov and his envoy Akhmed Zakayev. The Kremlin has accused both of them of terrorism and Maskhadov was killed in a military operation last March.
