London (AFP)
Nicaraguan journalist Luis Sequeira, who works for AFP, won the prestigious Rory Peck Award in London on Thursday, a distinction that honors the best freelance journalists for freelance image reporters (JRI) every year for his coverage of the conflict in his country. .
The judges paid tribute to the journalist's work on a topic that was rarely discussed.
Luis Sequeira was rewarded for his video coverage of protests in Nicaragua, showing arrests of protesters and clashes with the police.
The demonstrations began in April 2018, in response to President Daniel Ortega's social security reforms. The repression of this movement, led by the authorities, has left 325 dead, 2,000 injured and led to the departure in exile of some 70,000 people, according to human rights groups.
Luis Sequeira dedicated "his prize to the Nicaraguan people who fight for democracy" by receiving the award from the hands of Nicaraguan human rights activist Bianca Jagger.
"It's quite difficult to work in this kind of environment, with a repressive regime, when you are followed all the time by people you do not know," the journalist said.
Aged 25, Luis Sequeira started the video at the age of 17 and worked for Telemundo, RCN, HBO, Reuters and Rutly.
He covered events on the American, European and Asian continents including the exodus of the Kurdish people, the jihadist attacks in Paris in 2015 and the attack in Orlando, Florida in 2016, said in a statement AFP, for whom he has been working since 2018.
This is the fourth time in six years that an AFP employee has won this award.
Launched in 1995 by the Rory Peck Foundation, created in memory of Rory Peck, an independent videographer killed in Moscow in 1993, the award honors the best independent image reporters in the world of information. The ceremony is one of the main events allowing the foundation to raise funds.
© 2019 AFP