Natalya Radina
Award Name : CPJ International Press Freedom Awards
Year of Award : 2011
Award for : Journalism
Location : Minsk, Minsk, Belarus
Natalya Radina is a Belarusian journalist and the editor-in-chief of the independent news site Charter 97, which publishes many articles critical of President Aleksandr Lukashenko's rule.Following the disputed December 2010 presidential election—in which pro-democracy candidate Andrei Sannikov lost to Lukashenko, often called "Europe's last dictator"—a number of opposition protesters took to the streets, alleging fraud.
Radina and the Charter 97 staff posted numerous articles documenting arrests and injuries to the protesters by state security forces.On 21 December 2010, the Charter 97 office was raided by agents of the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus.Radina only had time to post "We're all at the KGB" on the site before being arrested and taken away.She received CPJ International Press Freedom Awards in 2011.