Elena MILASHINA (°1977)
Profession: Investigative journalist and writer
Nationality: Russian
Why an honorary doctorate?
3 May 2019 International Press Freedom Day. VUB and ULB organise Difference Day to shine a light on free speech and free press. Together with war journalist Rudi Vranckx, investigative journalist Elena Milashina receives an honorary doctorate.
The truth wins a prize
Both journalists risk their lives every day to bring to light what - in corrupt countries - might never see the light of day. Free speech and critically but honourably challenging malfeasance: VUB embraces these values and encourages them time and time again.
At the reception after the award, Milashina stresses that she wants to share the honour of her honorary doctorate with her colleagues, not least with the six murdered editors. This shows a solidarity that spreads a message into the hereafter.
Elena Milashina speaks. No matter what. She gets death threats, yes. Not by phone, email, or text message. But through state-sponsored media channels. They appear in an edition of the Grozny Inform, a Chechen online state news agency.
"They want to silence me," she says, "to prevent me from continuing to publish Chechen reports." But her urge for justice prevails.
She will not let herself be boxed in, even if - given the context - that sounds rather morbid. But where there is an indomitable ideal, there is a way. This woman is like a lioness defending figurative cubs on her way to the truth and nothing but the truth.
"It's a new sort of death threat... an attempt to silence me."
About her career
The danger of writing
It is 1997 when Elena Milashina - still studying at university - starts working as a journalist for the Novaya Gazeta. This Russian independent newspaper is liberal inspired and known for its critical and inquisitive attitude towards the Russian political and social sectors.
Milashina meets Anna Politkovskaya, who becomes one of her most important mentors. In 2000, Milashina devotes a series of articles to the suspicious disaster involving the nuclear submarine Kursk. The Russian Navy's barely five-year-old showpiece - which has a reputation for being unsinkable - takes all 118 people on board into the unfathomable depths of the sea forever. In 2001, Milashina receives the 'Golden Pen of Russia’ for her research work. In the same year, she graduates as a journalist.
Milashina tenaciously addresses obscure cases such as the terrorist act in Beslan in 2004, where over 330 people were killed in a hostage-taking. She writes about the murders of her fellow journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006 and of Natalya Estemirova in 2009, both of whom were fervent human rights activists.
Milashina continues the investigations initiated by her late colleague Politkovskaya. She also engages in her own independent research into unsavoury events in the North Caucasus and Chechnya. She highlights coerced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, torture, and intimidation.
But her sharp and revealing pen does not shield her from danger. In April 2012, she and a friend are knocked down in the street. Milashina is at the time working on an investigation into a police drug detective who was caught with drugs himself. The attack is never thoroughly investigated.
And there are many threats. After Milashina publishes an article in the Novaya Gazeta in 2017 about the persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya, the Chechen government declares a jihad against the entire editorial staff of the newspaper. Milashina is forced to leave the country and goes into hiding in Istanbul for a few months.
In February 2020, Elena Milashina and human rights lawyer Marina Dubrovina attended the trial of blogger Islam Nukhanov in Grozny, Chechnya. The man was illegally detained and tortured in the basements of the Ministry of Interior after showing a YouTube video about the luxurious houses of the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov and his allies. But the presence of both ladies is not appreciated and they are brutally attacked in the lobby of their hotel by an organised gang. The investigation is halted due to the disappearance of technical 'evidence'.
12 April 2020 Milashina launches an article in the Novaya Gazeta about how the Chechen governor reacts to the COVID 19 pandemic; about how Chechens in quarantine no longer dare report coronavirus symptoms for fear of being seen as terrorists. A day later, Chechen leader Kadyrov accuses her of writing nonsense and blames the Federal Security Service for not silencing her.
The PEN Centre in Moscow and others call the Russian authorities to stop the prosecution of Elena Milashina and the Novaya Gazeta.
Against the violation of human rights
Milashina is committed to exposing corruption and human rights abuses in the North Caucasus and Chechnya.
Novaya Gazeta
In 1997, she starts working for the 'Novaya Gazeta', an independent liberal Russian newspaper.
Threats
After Milashina publishes a piece in the Novaya Gazeta in 2017 about the persecution of homosexuals, the government declares a jihad against the entire editorial staff of the newspaper.
Obscure matters
She writes about the murders of her fellow journalist Anna Politkovskaya (2006) and of Natalya Estemirova (2009), both human rights activists.
What is an honorary doctorate?
VUB has awarded honorary doctorates every year since 1978 to personalities from the most diverse backgrounds who have made a remarkable contribution to their field and to society. From this solemn moment of recognition, they bear the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa of VUB.