Press Freedom Under Spotlight At Magnitsky Human Rights Awards

The Ukrainian journalist Oleg Sentsov, who was jailed in Russia for reporting on the country’s illegal annexation of Crimea, and murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi were among those honored at the recent Magnitsky Awards ceremony in London.Sentsov was given the 2018 Human Rights Award at the ceremony in London Thursday – a year late, as he was only released from jail in September. He had been reporting on Moscow’s forced annexation of Crimea in May 2014 when he was arrested and later convicted on false terrorism charges. He was released as part of a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine.Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late U.S. Senator John McCain – who was captured and tortured in the Vietnam War – presented the award to Sentsov at a ceremony Thursday night in London.FILE – Meghan McCain, daughter of, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. cries during a memorial service at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, in Phoenix.“He was tortured. He was sentenced to 20 years. He was sent to Siberia. He was sent to the Arctic. He suffered. He was imprisoned for a very, very long time. I know a little bit about men who are unjustly imprisoned. Their captors try to break them. But they emerge stronger than ever before. That’s Oleg Sentsov,” McCain told the audience.Speaking to VOA after receiving his award, Sentsov called for the release of the hundreds of other Ukrainians.“Now there are about 100 of our people imprisoned in Russia,” Sentsov said. “Most of them are Crimean Tatars. Also there are more than 200 imprisoned by separatists in Donbas in the territory controlled by Russia. All the prisoners must be freed because they were jailed illegally and they are hostages of the Kremlin.”China’s oppression of Uighur Muslims also came under the spotlight. Over one million Uighur citizens are thought to be detained in camps in Xinjiang Province, though the Chinese government keeps tight control of any press reporting from the region.Gulchehra Hoja, Uighur journalist at Radio Free Asia, speaks on stage at the Women In The World Summit in New York, April 11, 2019.Correspondent Gulchehra Hoja of VOA’s sister station Radio Free Asia received the Magnitsky Human Rights Award for 2019 for exposing the oppression. She told the audience a potential genocide was taking place, and called on Western governments to end trade ties with Beijing.“The world’s silence has only encouraged China to expand its concentration camps to hold millions of people. And those outside the camps suffer under the world’s worst Orwellian mass surveillance police state,” Hoja said.The Magnitsky Awards are named after lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was beaten to death ten years ago by Russian prison guards after exposing a $230 million state tax fraud.His death was echoed by that of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered by Saudi officials at the country’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Khashoggi’s fiancée Hatice Cengiz accepted his posthumous award for Courage Under Fire.Hatice Cengiz, centre, the fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi, accompanied by his colleagues, W. Post owner Jeff Bezos, unveil a plaque, near the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, marking the anniversary of his death, Oct. 2, 2019.“I feel that Serge Magnitsky and Jamal’s spirits and souls are with us right now. And they are smiling with us. And as much as they have taken Jamal from this world, we will continue to fight and keep his values alive,” Cengiz said in a tearful speech.To keep up that fight, Bill Browder – Sergei Magnitsky’s former client – has campaigned for so-called Magnitsky legislation to be passed around the world, enabling the sanctioning of human rights violators. By highlighting the sacrifices of those who stand against such abuses, it’s hoped the Magnitsky Awards will help to end the culture of impunity. 
…