At the award ceremony held at the Mediacentar Sarajevo on 27 November, journalist Šeki Radončić was handed the SEEMO Human Rights Award for exceptional contribution in the fight for human rights. The ceremony was a part of a meeting of investigative reporters from B-H (27-28 November 2007), organized by the South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO), Mediacentar Sarajevo and Investigative Journalism Center (CIN) from Zagreb.
Oliver Vujović, SEEMO Secretary General, handed the award to Radončić.
“The award recognizes my years of fighting against war crimes and for their exposure,” said Radončić.
After the award ceremony, Mediacentar Sarajevo’s documentary "Carnival" was screened. The screenplay was written jointly by Radončić and director Alen Drljević; Drljević directed the film. Radončić’s book "Kobna sloboda" (Fatal Freedom), published on the basis of many years of investigation into the fates of Bosnian refugees who sought salvation in neighboring Montenegro in 1992 while fleeing from the horrors of war, served as a foundation for the screenplay of the multi-awarded film.
The meeting, formally opened by His Excellency Werner Almhofer, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to B-H, brought together prominent Bosnian-Herzegovinian investigative reporters.
The topics of the meeting were:
• Investigating war crimes and terrorism in ethnically divided societies; investigative process; how to get funding for investigations; writing a strong investigative story• Cross-border networks of investigate reporters and sources of funding• New trends in Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR)• Investigative story: from tip to article, book and documentary• Investigative reporting on the economy in Serbia
This meeting and other SEEMO investigative reporting meetings held so far are part of the SEEMO Dialogue SEE project, financially supported by Austrian Development Cooperation.