Free Media Awards 2013
Elena Kostyuchenko - Russia

She has worked for Novaya Gazeta (http://en.novayagazeta.ru/) since she was 17 years old, and she also has her own blog.

She covers an impressive variety of topics, ranging from the case of Mikhail Beketov and the Khimki Forest to the massacre at Kushchevskaya. She writes about the lives of prostitutes who work along the main thoroughfares and about neglected hospitals. She is a champion of gay rights.

Kostyuchenko was the first journalist to write about the Russian punk band Pussy Riot. By covering cases that draw attention to the link between organised crime and corrupt authorities, she moves through dangerous territory. She has been both assaulted and arrested for her journalistic activities.

Elena Kostyuchenko was nominated by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights House Foundation, Oslo, as well as by Ilja Krieger, editor, Corpus Publishing House, Moscow.