“In Belarus and Azerbaijan people think about freedom.
Our role is to support them. A society without information is the fault of the ruling party. We are against freedom that is controlled.” According to Novoe Vremeya Newspaper, former foreign minister of the German Federation Joschka Fisher said this on May 19 during the presention of the annual award for “Eastern European Free Press” named after Gerd Bucerius.
“We support brave journalists that risk their lives and health for freedom of expression. There are countries with dictators and journalists that are threatened. Everyone must know that a free press can be bad, but a not free press is always bad,” said Fisher, adding that this prize is not just given to journalists, but those who defend freedom.
This year “Zerkalo” Newspaper political analyst Rauf Mirgedirov won the “Eastern European Free Press” named after Gerd Bucerius.