Timur Aliyev's Institute for Social Development announces War Prize action

The organizers of the action say they want to understand the reasons for the ongoing tragedy and to reveal concrete people responsible for the war in Chechnya. The Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations attached to the Union of Russian Journalists, the Council of Chechen Non-government Organizations, the Prague Watchdog information agency, Czechia, as well as the newspapers Voice of the Chechen Republic and Chechen Society provide informational support to the action.

"Our action is of a peacemaking nature. Its final goal is to stop the war in Chechnya. And our task in this process, as we see it, is to attract public attention once again to the bloody war that goes on in the Chechen Republic. Our project is not an ordinary one since we want to get at the cradle of this tragedy," the head of the institute, Timur Aliyev, said in his interview with the Caucasian Knot correspondent.

The competition will result in the presentation of a kind of an "anti-prize" to a politician or a public figure who has made "the most important contribution" to the process of unleashing and developing war on the territory of the Chechen Republic in 1994-2004. The prize will be presented in two nominations: to one Chechen and to one non-Chechen.

"The "winners" will be chosen by a competent jury formed of representatives from Europe, Russia, and the Caucasus. Oleg Panfilov, director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, and David Petrosian, a political correspondent for the Noyan Topan news agency, have already given their consent to be members of the jury," said Timur Aliyev.

The results of the competition are expected to be known on June 1. As a prize, the winners will be presented with a diploma, a free annual subscription to the Chechen Society newspaper, and a completely paid tree-day tour of the places of military operations in Chechnya.