Kyrgyz Opposition Names Award After Slain Journalist

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's opposition Ata-Meken (Fatherland) party has established an award named after journalist Gennady Pavlyuk, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

Pavlyuk died in a Kazakh hospital on December 22, nearly a week after police say he was thrown out of a high-rise building in Almaty with his hands and feet bound.

Ata-Meken leader Omurbek Tekebaev told RFE/RL that the prize will be awarded annually to journalists and human rights activists who have contributed to the protection of freedom of speech and human rights in Kyrgyzstan.

He added that Ata-Meken will ask the Bishkek mayor's office to allocate land for a monument to the prominent ethnic Russian journalist.

Pavlyuk was the founder of the "White Steamer" newspaper and website and had worked for the newspaper "Vecherny Bishkek" (Evening Bishkek) and the Russian weekly "Argumenty i fakty."

Pavlyuk was working with Tekebaev to create a new website before he went to Almaty.