Catholic press body honors journalist's work for riot victims

Akkara was conferred the Loius Careno Award for Journalism during the ICPA’s annual convention at Jharsuguda on March 1.

Jharsuguda:  Indian Catholic Press Association has honored journalist-turned-activist Anto Akkara with an award recognizing his "relentless campaign for truth and justice for the voiceless Christian victims" of Kandhamal in Odisha.

Akkara was conferred the Loius Careno Award for Journalism during the ICPA’s annual convention at Jharsuguda on March 1.

The press body’s president Father Alfonse Elenjikal said Jharsuguda in Odisha was selected as venue for this year’s convention to express the group’s “solidarity with the victims” of the riots that took place in 2008.

"it is befitting” to honor Akkara for his crusade for Kandhamal victims, said the IPCA president at the award ceremony at the end of the 24th National Convention.

“Besides chronicling with his book the incredible witness of the valiant Christians of the remote Kandhamal jungles of Odisha following the orchestrated violence,” Akkara has also exposed “the fraud and political conspiracy” behind the violence,” said the citation.

Akkara during his acceptance speech said the award was “an honor for the poor but valiant Christians” of Kandhamal.

“It's their amazing witness and suffering that inspired me to take up the campaign for the voiceless,” he said.

The citation also acknowledged Akkara’s online signature campaign for the release of seven “innocent Christians, who have been fraudulently jailed” for the 2008 murder of Swami Laxmananda, which triggered the riots.

Akkara said the imprisonment of the “seven innocents is a blot on the nation and its judicial system.”

He urged all justice-seeking minds to sign the online petition at www.release7innocents.com and share the link.

“Kandhamal challenges everyone to bear witness to the truth," said the journalist-author who has made 27 trips to Kandhamal as part of documenting the riot victims’ stories.

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