Zhanna Nemtsova

Russian journalist Zhanna Nemtsova is a champion for democracy, education, and freedom of information in her native Russia. Following the assassination last year of her father Boris Nemtsov, a Russian opposition politician and former Deputy Prime Minister, Ms. Nemtsova became a determined voice for justice. Despite personal threats, Ms. Nemtsova remained in Moscow to demand a thorough and transparent investigation into her father’s death and to decry the Kremlin’s stranglehold over the media. After asserting that Russian President Vladimir Putin bore “political responsibility” for her father’s assassination, she was forced into exile in Germany, where today she continues to advocate for human rights in Russia as a reporter for Deutsche Welle. Last month, she founded the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom to support research on Russian economics, politics, and propaganda to further her father’s dreams for a prosperous and democratic Russia.