Politkovskaya Prize Awarded To Journalist Writing About Caucasus

Olga Allenova is a journalist for "Kommersant" newspaper

The Russian Union of Journalists has awarded its first Anna Politkovskaya prize to an investigative journalist who, like Politkovskaya herself, writes about Russia's restive North Caucasus.

Olga Allenova, who works for Russia's "Kommersant" daily, was awarded the prize in Moscow on September 8.

Russia marked an International Day of Solidarity with Journalists the same day to commemorate Julius Fucik, a Czech communist journalist executed by the Nazis in 1943, and to remember journalists who have died in the line of duty.

Anna Politkovskaya, who reported on atrocities committed by Russian forces and pro-Kremlin armed groups in Chechnya, was shot dead outside her Moscow apartment on October 7, 2006.

Five suspects are on trial for alleged involvement in her murder, but investigators have yet to name those who they believe ordered the killing.

With reporting by lidovky.cz