Mauri König is a Brazilian journalist who has won several international prizes for his work on human rights abuses. He holds a master's degree in "literary reportage".

Journalism

He wrote a series of articles in 2000 and 2001 on Brazilian children being kidnapped for service in the

military of Paraguay The Armed forces of Paraguay ( es, Fuerzas Armadas de Paraguay) consist of the Paraguayan army, navy (including naval aviation and marine corps) and air force. The constitution of Paraguay establishes the president of Paraguay as the commande ...

. Three men, allegedly from the Paraguayan police, assaulted him on 19 December 2000 after he photographed a police station in San Alberto. The attackers tortured him, whipping him with chains and strangling him, before leaving him for dead. However, König survived and continued to report on the story. He won a 2002 award from the

Inter-American Press Association The Inter American Press Association (IAPA; Spanish: ''Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa'', SIP) is a press advocacy group representing major media organizations in North America, South America and the Caribbean. It is made up of more than 1,3 ...

for one of the stories in the series that appeared in ''O Estado de Panama''. König was reportedly threatened again by local police in 2003 for his research along the

Brazil–Paraguay border The Brazil–Paraguay border runs from Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, to Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul. It crosses a variety of terrains, going from large urban areas by inhospitable deserts and wetlands. It starts within the framework of the three ...

, and was finally forced to abandon the case. Beginning in 2002, König served as a special reporter for ''

Gazeta do Povo Gazeta do Povo (GP) is a Brazilian newspaper based in Curitiba, in the Brazilian state of Paraná. The newspaper is almost exclusively published in digital format, with a weekly magazine edition on Saturdays. It is currently considered the larg ...

'', a

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil's South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area ...

-based daily newspaper. In 2004 and 2005, he continued to write about border sex-trafficking, and a leading trafficker was eventually arrested through König's research.

Awards

In 2006, König was awarded the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

's Lorenzo Natali Journalism Prize, which recognizes "outstanding reporting on Human Rights, Democracy and Development issues". In 2012, he was awarded the International Press Freedom Award of the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journ ...

, a US-based NGO. The award recognizes journalists who show courage in defending press freedom despite facing attacks, threats, or imprisonment. As of 2012, König was a board member of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalists. In 2013, Mauri König was awarded the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for outstanding reporting on Latin America and the Caribbean.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Konig, Mauri Brazilian journalists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Brazilian people