Carmen Gurruchaga

Carmen Gurruchaga (Spain) "is a journalist who has covered nationalism, Basque politics, and terrorism-related issues in print and on radio and television since 1989. In December 1997, a bomb was found on the front door of the apartment where she lived with her two sons. She had written a front-page story about a fugitive Basque youth who was acquitted by a jury in a controversial trial even though he had admitted killing two policemen. This forced her to move from her lifelong home in San Sebastian to Madrid. Her name is often found on "black lists," and Molotov cocktails have been thrown at her office."

"Carmen Gurruchaga Basurto, a political reporter for El Mundo, a Madrid-based daily newspaper, writes frequently about the Basque separatist group, ETA. Gurruchaga's stories have so threatened the terrorist group that since 1984 it has waged a campaign against her, hoping to intimidate her into stopping reporting on their activities."

"Originally based in San Sebastian in Basque country, Gurruchaga, who is herself Basque, was forced to move both her home and her office several times because of repeated threats and harassment. Then, in December 1997, when Gurruchaga wrote an article identifying the location of an ETA extremist, the terrorist group retaliated by bombing her home while she was inside with her two young children. Following the attack, Gurruchaga relocated to Madrid. Though she is still on ETA’s hit list, she continues reporting on them for El Mundo".


 * Winner of the 2000 Reporters Sans Frontieres-Fondation de France prize
 * Winner of 2001 HRW Hellman-Hammett Grant
 * Winner of the International Women's Media Foundation 2001 Courage Award (Other winners were Koky Dishon, Jineth Bedoya Lima - Colombia, and Amal Abbas - Sudan)