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{{Infobox person
| name = Irina Petrushova
| image = 
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1965
| birth_place = near [[Nizhny Novgorod]]
| death_date = 
| death_place =
| nationality = Russian
| other_names =
| known_for =
| occupation = journalist
| awards = [[CPJ International Press Freedom Award]] (2002)
| organization = ''[[Respublika (Kazakh newspaper)|Respublika]]''
}}

'''Irina Petrushova''' (born 1965)<ref name=NYT/> is a Russian journalist, founder and editor-in-chief of the weekly ''[[Respublika (Kazakh newspaper)|Respublika]]'' in Kazakhstan.<ref name=AP>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-54085477.html |title=Editor of independent Kazakh newspaper sentenced to prison, then amnestied, for alleged business violations |date=4 July 2002 |publisher=Associated Press {{Subscription required|via=[[HighBeam Research]]}}|accessdate=21 September 2012}}</ref> After a series of stories exposing government corruption, her life was threatened and her paper firebombed. In 2002, she was awarded a [[CPJ International Press Freedom Award]].

== Early life ==
Petrushova was born near [[Nizhny Novgorod]] in 1965.<ref name=NYT /> She is the daughter of Albert Petrushov, a reporter for the [[Communist Party of the Russian Federation|Russian Communist Party]] newspaper ''[[Pravda]]''. Petrushov was known for his exposés of government corruption in [[Kazakhstan]], including a story which ended the career of Kazakh [[Politburo]] member [[Dinmukhamed A. Kunayev]].<ref name=NYT /><ref name="CPJprofile" />

In the early 1980s, Petrushova joined a journalism program at [[St. Petersburg State University]] that would allow her to work with her father. She later stated that traveling the country with him and seeing the impact that media attention could have on life in remote villages "made me positive that this is the thing I should do with my life."<ref name=NYT>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/13/world/the-saturday-profile-bruised-but-still-jabbing-kazakh-heavyweights.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |title=Bruised, but Still Jabbing Kazakh Heavyweights |author=Michael Wines |date=July 13, 2012 |work=The New York Times|deadurl=no |archivedate=21 September 2012 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6ArzRWpQb |accessdate=21 September 2012}}</ref>

Petrushova married a psychologist in 1984. The couple have two sons.<ref name=NYT />

In 1992, Petrushova's father suffered serious brain damage when he was struck, apparently deliberately, by a car. His manuscript for a book on Kunayev was stolen while he was unconscious.<ref name=NYT /><ref name="CPJprofile" />

== ''Respublika'' ==
Founded in 2000, Petrushova's weekly ''Respublika'' focused on covering business and economic issues in Kazakhstan, and frequently published stories highly critical of president [[Nursultan Nazarbayev]]'s regime. The paper wrote about financial scandals and rampant [[nepotism]] and [[cronyism]]. Scandals exposed the paper included the granting of oil rights to one of Nazarbayev's relatives; the disappearance of funds for an airport in the capital, [[Almaty]]; and the Kazakh police forcing tourists off a plane so that Nazarbayev's daughter might fly alone.<ref name=NYT/><ref name="CPJprofile"/> ''Respublika''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s most notable story was an exposé which revealed that Nazarbayev had stashed US$1 billion of the state's oil revenues in a [[Swiss bank account]]; the government stated that this had been an emergency fund used to rescue the national economy in 1998.<ref name=NYT/>

In November 2001, a government representative unsuccessfully attempted to buy a controlling stake in ''Respublika''. In January 2002, Kazakhstani printers began to refuse to print the paper, one after a human skull was placed on his doorstep.<ref name=NYT/> ''Respublika'' was also ordered by a Kazakhstani court to stop printing, but evaded the ban by printing under titles like ''Not That Respublika''.<ref name=NYT/>

Petrushova bought a digital copier so that ''Respublika'' could do its own printing, but then the paper's offices became the target of intimidation and threats. On [[International Women's Day]], a funeral wreath was mailed to Petrushova.<ref name=NYT/> On another occasion, a decapitated dog was hung from ''Respublika'' building with a screwdriver sticking into its side and a note reading "there will be no next time";<ref name=WP>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-408047.html |title=Truth-Tellers in a Time of Terror |author=Fred Hiatt |date=25 November 2012 |work=The Washington Post |publisher= {{Subscription required|via=[[HighBeam Research]]}}|accessdate=21 September 2012}}</ref> the dog's head was left outside Petrushova's home.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-54298250.html |title=Police make arrests in firebombing attack on Kazakh newspaper office |author=Rozlana Taukina |date=11 July 2012 |publisher=Associated Press {{Subscription required|via=[[HighBeam Research]]}}|accessdate=21 September 2012}}</ref> Three days after the dog incident, the papers' offices were firebombed and burned to the ground.<ref name="CPJprofile">{{cite web|url=http://cpj.org/awards/2002/petrushova.php|title=2002 Awardee: Irina Petrushova|publisher=[[Committee to Protect Journalists]]|accessdate=9 June 2011}}</ref> In July, Petrushova was given an eighteen-month jail sentence on tax charges, but served no time after a judge ruled that the case fell under an amnesty.<ref name=AP/>

Petrushova eventually left the country for Russia, where she continued to publish via the Internet, living apart from her family for their safety.<ref name=WP /> In recognition of her work, Petrushova was awarded a 2002 [[CPJ International Press Freedom Awards|International Press Freedom Award]] by the [[Committee to Protect Journalists]], a US-based NGO.<ref name="CPJprofile"/>

== In Russia ==
In Moscow, Petrushova edited the [[Assandi Times]], a publication which has reported extensively on the [[United States Department of Justice]] investigation into allegations that president [[Nazarbayev]] and his allies had accepted US$78 million in bribes from American oil companies in 2000.<ref name="press2004">{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,CPJ,ANNUALREPORT,KAZ,,47c566df23,0.html|title=Attacks on the Press in 2004 - Kazakhstan|date=February 2005|publisher=Committee to Protect Journalists via UNHCR|accessdate=9 June 2011}}</ref>

In April 2005 Petrushova was briefly detained in [[Volokolamsk]] near [[Moscow]] in Russia at the request of Kazakh authorities who sought her detention on charges of [[tax evasion]] and breaking Kazakh [[citizenship law]]s. After Moscow prosecutors ruled that the [[statute of limitations]] had expired on the charges, Kazakhstan's request for her [[extradition]] was denied.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-107832263.html |title=Russia refuses to extradite Kazakh opposition newspaper editor |date=25 April 2005 |publisher=Associated Press {{Subscription required|via=[[HighBeam Research]]}}|accessdate=21 September 2012}}</ref> Petrushova was released a few days later. She had also been detained on the same charges in [[St. Petersburg]] in 2004.<ref name="RFE-RL">{{cite web|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1058644.html|title=Russia Releases Editor Of Kazakh Opposition Weekly|date=26 April 2005|publisher=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]|accessdate=9 June 2011}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://cpj.org/awards/2002/petrushova.php CPJ profile]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121114135311/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/ipf02/petrushova.html Biography at PBS.org]

{{Footer CPJ International Press Freedom Award laureates}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrushova, Irina}}
[[Category:1965 births]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani journalists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Russian journalists]]
[[Category:Saint Petersburg State University alumni]]
[[Category:Women newspaper editors]]
[[Category:Russian editors]]
[[Category:Newspaper founders]]
[[Category:Women journalists]]
[[Category:People from Nizhny Novgorod]]
[[Category:Women company founders]]
[[Category:Russian company founders]]
[[Category:Russian women writers]]

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