Bulgarian investigative journalist Hristo Grozev will receive the “Journalist of the Year“ award at the “Prize Europe“ festival (PRIX EUROPA) in Berlin for his work in uncovering the former director of the German payments company “Wirecard“ Jan Marsalek, wanted by the authorities, in Moscow and exposing him as a Russian spy, announced a press release from the organizing committee of the festival, which will take place in Berlin from October 5 to 10, BTA reported.
Several hundred media employees from all over Europe will gather in the German capital to vote for the best European audio, digital and video media productions of the year. A jury will decide who will receive the 14 prestigious trophies. This year, 585 productions were submitted for consideration, 162 of which, from a total of 30 countries, were nominated in the competition. The remaining winners will be announced on October 10 and the awards will be presented at a ceremony in Berlin.
Together with an international investigative team, including the German media outlets “Der Spiegel“ and Zet DF, the Russian platform “Insider“, the Austrian newspaper “Standart“ and the American television network PBS, Grozev uncovered Marsalek's hideout and managed to prove that he worked for the Russian secret services, the press release states.
Grozev specializes in exposing the machinations of the Federal Security Service of Russia - he played a key role in recreating the downing of the “Malaysia Airlines“ passenger plane over eastern Ukraine by Russian missile system in 2014, killing 300 people, the press release added. He also played a crucial role in uncovering the attempted poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018 and Alexei Navalny in 2020. Grozev has been under surveillance by a spy ring for years and is on a Russian wanted list. There are also concrete plans to assassinate him.
“Europe Award“ 2025 is the 39th edition of the media festival, which is supported by an alliance of 24 European public media. Founded in 1987, the festival has become a pan-European platform for quality media content that promotes cohesion and European cooperation, the organizers note. The event is traditionally hosted by the German public media “Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg“ with the support of the local authorities in the province Berlin.