Lidya Yusupova – Oslo Freedom Forum 2010 (Video)
Lidya Yusupova, a journalist and lawyer considered to be one of the bravest women in Europe, shares with us her life as “Chechnya’s Witness”.
Lidya Yusupova has spent the last decade documenting the murders, kidnappings, bombardments, and disappearances still rife in Chechnya today. As she shows us photographs of a destroyed Grozny, bombed-out school buildings, and her many colleagues who have disappeared or been murdered, the danger inherent in her job becomes vividly clear. How many innocent civilians and journalists, she asks us, have to be killed before the world pays attention to what is going on in Chechnya? Yusupova urges the international community to help her build a human rights center that can support the work of the activists in the region and provide for their safety. To succeed, she needs our support – together, she says, we can end the world’s indifference toward a place where human rights defenders are openly assassinated in their quest for justice.
The video was recorded at IInd Oslo Freedom Forum.