Belarusian Journalist Wins CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism 2016

Art­siom Har­bat­se­vich, a young jour­nal­ist from Min­sk, Belarus, with work­ing expe­ri­ences at Intex-press and Nasha Niva, has been award­ed for his activ­i­ty as inves­tiga­tive reporter pro­duc­ing some works hav­ing great impact and reper­cus­sions in his coun­try. In par­tic­u­lar, in one inves­ti­ga­tion, he exam­ined the pro-Russ­ian para­mil­i­tary groups receiv­ing sup­port from Russ­ian funds, while in anoth­er work he exposed the chan­nel through which Belaru­sian teenagers from a bor­der region were tak­en to mil­i­tary train­ing in Rus­sia.

Lin­di­ta Çela, an inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ist at the Balkan Inves­tiga­tive Report­ing Net­work (BIRN) in Alba­nia, has been award­ed for her over­all pro­fes­sion­al achieve­ments and hard-hit­ting inves­ti­ga­tions expos­ing cor­rup­tion scan­dals in the high­est lev­els of pow­er as well as rev­e­la­tions on Albania’s orga­nized crime net­works, stretch­ing from the Accursed Moun­tains to the streets of Brus­sels. For over more than 15 years of expe­ri­ence as a reporter, she has been cov­er­ing com­plex sto­ries with a huge impact in Alban­ian soci­ety, show­ing impres­sive courage and deter­mi­na­tion.

The award­ing cer­e­mo­ny took place on Novem­ber 21, at the X South East Europe Media Forum in Bel­grade, Ser­bia.

A Spe­cial Men­tion has been assigned to Iurie Săn­duță, direc­tor of RISE Moldo­va and mem­ber of the Orga­nized Crime and Cor­rup­tion Report­ing Project (OCCRP). As a spe­cial­ist in cross-bor­der inves­ti­ga­tions, coor­di­nat­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion depart­ment at Ziarul de Gardă in Chișinău, his work is also well-known in the Roman­ian media, espe­cial­ly in recent years, when he revealed sev­er­al high-lev­el cor­rup­tion schemes, dis­clos­ing the crim­i­nal orga­ni­za­tion and mak­ing con­nec­tions in off­shore areas. He is the co-author of the inves­tiga­tive bor­der projects «A Mur­der­er’s Trail» and «The Russ­ian Laun­dro­mat”.
35 nom­i­na­tions, cov­er­ing 12 coun­tries, have been sub­mit­ted this year, con­firm­ing the region-wide impact and rel­e­vance of the Award.

The inde­pen­dent inter­na­tion­al jury, who decides by major­i­ty vot­ing, includ­ed: Alek­san­dra Bog­dani (Alba­nia), edi­tor for Balkan Inves­tiga­tive Report­ing Net­work (BIRN); Saša Leković (Croa­t­ia), inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ist, train­er and media advi­sor in SEE coun­tries, pres­i­dent of Inves­tiga­tive Jour­nal­ism Cen­ter, pres­i­dent of Croa­t­ian Jour­nal­ists’ Asso­ci­a­tion; Luka Zanoni (Italy), edi­tor-in-chief, Osser­va­to­rio Bal­cani e Cau­ca­so; Mari­na Con­stan­ti­noiu (Roma­nia), jour­nal­ist/ed­i­tor-in-chief, miscareaderezistenta.ro; Anna Babi­nets (Ukraine), edi­tor of the Orga­nized Crime and Cor­rup­tion Report­ing Project (OCCRP) and co-founder of Slidstvo.info.

The over­all Award coor­di­na­tion was man­aged by Bar­bara Fab­ro (CEI) and Oliv­er Vujovic (SEEMO).
  
CONTACTS
Cen­tral Euro­pean Ini­tia­tive: press@cei.int  
South East Europe Media Organ­i­sa­tion: basis@seemo.org 
KAS Media Pro­gram South East Europe: media.europe@kas.de 

For more infor­ma­tion on the South East Europe Media Forum (SEEMF): info@seemf.org
Fol­low on Twit­ter: @seemf; @seemofreemedia; @KASmediaSEE; @CEI_Secretariat